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T  is  with  much  satisfaction  that  the  authors 
of  this  book  are  enabled  at  last  to  place 
it,  completed,  into  your  hands.  lor  many 
months  past  the  writing  of  it  has  occupied 
their  leisure  hours,  and  it  may  truly  be 
said  to  have  been  to  them  fc  labor  of  love, 
since  only  friendship  for  you  prompted  them 
to  undertake  it.  Originally  commenced  (both 
as  regards  the  verse  and  the  prose)  with 
no  intention  of  its  making  over  a  few 
stanzas  or  pages,  the  subject  opened  be 
fore  them  as  they  wrote,  and  almost  im 
perceptibly — probably  under  the  inspiration  (at  respectable 
intervals)  of  the  sparkling  beverage  it  celebrates — attained  its 
present  goodly  dimensions. 

In  a  brief  speech  which  the  writer  of  the  ballad  made 
a  short  time  ago,  at  a  dinner  given  to  celebrate  the  com 
pletion  of  this  work,  and  where  were  gathered  such  choice 
spirits  as  Professor  Alexander  Dimitry,  John  Brougham,  A. 


J.  Requier,  John  W.  Carrington,  Alex.  Matthew,  Thomas 
J.  Miller,  Walter  Dickson,  Dr.  C.  L.  Brown,  and  others, 
he  gave,  in  a  few  words,  the  history,  as  it  were,  of  these 
verses,  wherein  he  said  that'  the  writing  of  them  was  sug 
gested  to  him  by  a  common  friend,  Tom  Miller,  who 
desired  them  for  the  occasion  of  a  festive  gathering,  where 
your  ale  would  form  one  of  the  staple  drinks;  accordingly, 
a  half  dozen  stanzas  were  written  and  recited  by  the  writer, 
and  received  by  your  guests  with  much  greater  approba 
tion  than  they  deserved. 

When,  a  few  days  thereafter,  at  your  request,  the  author 
of  those  lines  essayed  to  copy  them,  he  found  that  he  had 
struck  a  vein  which  would  bear  fuller  working.  Thereupon 
he  gave  rein  to  his  Pegasus,  and,  though  it  is  given  to 
halting,  and  is  broken-winded  at  times,  yet  it  bore  him 
triumphantly  along  beside  fields  of  ripening  barley  and  past 
hop  gardens,  where  the  vines  wreathed  themselves  in  grace 
ful  lines  about  supporting  trellises.  It  carried  him  to 
Teutonic  beer  saloons  and  to  English  inns  and  homesteads — 
to  Scotia's  cabins  and  the  hills  of  the  Emerald  Isle — 
to  the  vineyards  of  France  and  the  bar-rooms  of  Yankee- 
land  ;  and  wherever  he  went  he  found  something  suggestive 
of  ale.  So  he  wrote  on,  con  amore,  until  the  ballad 
grew,  speaking  figuratively,  from  half-a-dozen  mugs  of  ale 
to  a  whole  barrel  full,  thirty-two  gallons  to  the  cask,  beer 
measure. 

After  it  was  completed  you  engaged  Mr.  McNeviN  to 
illustrate  certain  portions  of  it.  How  successfully  he  ac 
complished  this  the  accompanying  engravings  will  show. 

Then  it  was,  too,  that  the  author  of  the  accompanying 
prose  sketch  offered  to  weave  together  a  number  of  facts 
which  might  outline  the  history  and  antiquity  of  ale, 
illustrated  with  such  literary  and  other  reminiscences  as 
a  reasonable  scope  would  allow.  The  subject  embraced  the 
prunings  and  pickings  of  years  of  reading,  with  more  im- 


mediate  research,  to  link  by  chronology,  and  balance  with 
appropriate  references  to  the  various  interests  suggested,  in 
a  historical,  hygienic  and  agricultural  aspect,  the  materials 
of  which  the  essay  is  composed.  The  desire  to  accomplish 
the  work  was  thus  constantly  waylaid  by  the  allurements 
of  the  still-growing  design,  until,  in  following  ale  down  the 
centuries — from  the  bjor  of  the  Scandanavian.  Vikings  to  the 
chica  of  the  South  Pacific,  and  around  the  world — from  the 
Steppes  of  Tartary  to  the  vats  of  Albany — the  author 
feared  he  had  tired  out  the  patience  of  those  who  bade 
him  "good  speed"  at  his  starting.  In  this,  it  seems,  he 
was  mistaken  ;  and  now,  having  completed  what  was 
promised  many  months  since,  he  presents  it  to  you  with 
great  sincerity  of  feeling,  and  to  readers,  in  the  hope  that 
it  may  help  to  further  a  much-needed  reform  in  the 
character  of  popular  beverages,  and,  consequently,  in  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  people. 

With   these    few    words,    by  way    of    preface,    the    writers 
subscribe   themselves 

Your   friends, 


JOHN   SAVAGE, 
BARRY  GRAY. 


FORDHAM,  N.  Y.,   October   15,  18(56. 


ti 


BONIFACE. — "  Ale !  'Tis  smooth  as  oil,  sweet  as  milk,  clear  as 
amber,  and  strong  as  brandy.  *  *  *  Sir,  I  have  fed  purely  upon 
ale ;  I  have  eat  my  ale,  drank  my  ale,  and  I  always  sleep  upon  ale. 
*  *  *  *  *  Now,  Sir,  you  shall  see  [filling  a  glass}.  Your 
worship's  health:  Ha!  delicious,  delicious — fancy  it  Burgundy,  ouly  fancy 
it,  and  'tis  worth  ten  shillings  a  quart. 

AIMWELL. — [Drinks.]      'Tis   confounded  strong. 

BONIFACE. — Strong  1  It  must  be  so,  or  how  should  we  be  strong 
that  drink  it  ?"  FARQCHAR'S  Beaux  Stratagem. 


'  "When  neebors  anger  at  a  plea, 
An'  just  as  wud   as   wud  can   be, 
How  easy  can  the  barley-bree 

Cement  the   quarrel  1 
It's  aye  the  cheapest  lawyer's   fee, 

To  taste   the   barrel." 

BURNS'    Scotch  Drink. 


Tom   Miller,   gay   and   festive   "  fellar,'' 

Come,   put   aside   your   books   and   pen, 
Let's   drop   into   a   quiet   cellar, 

And   mingle   with   our   brother   men. 
We're   dull   as   monks   in   ivied   cloisters ; 

We   need   wherewith   our   hearts   to   cheer ; 
We'll    find    it    in    a   dozen    oysters, 

And    in    two    mugs   of  Taylors'    beer. 


10 

II. 

John   Taylor   was   a   famous   brewer, 

In    Albany  for  years   he   dwelt, 
And   never   nobler  man,   or  truer, 

Than    he,   before   God's  Throne   e'er   knelt. 
You   knew   him,   Tom,   and   oft   united 

With    those   to   whom   his   love   was   dear, 
Around    the    festal   board,    delighted 

To   quaff  his   generous   foaming   beer. 

III. 

You   know   his   sons,   both   Joe  and   William, 

Two   glorious   men   as   e'er   drew  breath, 
And   there   was  Ned — one   in   a   million ! 

But   his   bright   eyes   are   closed   in   death. 
A    truce   though,   Tom,   to   thoughts   of  sorrow, 

Grieving   o'er  friends  doth  nought   avail ; 
What  if  the   grave  claims   us   to-morrow  ! 

To'day   we'll   drink   our  mugs   of  ale. 


IV. 

And   such   ale,   too,   my  jolly   fellow, 

As    well    would    suit   the   gods  to  quaff; 
'Twill   make  the   saddest   heart   grow   mellow, 

And    cause   the   gloomiest   man    to   laugh. 
I've   drank   the   wines   of  many   a  vine-land, 

The    product   of  both   hill    and    dale, 
But   I'd   exchange   the   best   of  Rhineland 

For    one    full   mug   of  Taylors'    ale. 


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The   bearded   Teuton,   round   and    burly, 

May   find   the   best   of  festal    cheer, — 
Whether   the   hour   be  late   or   early — 

In   countless   mugs   of  lager  bier. 
His   flaxen-haired   and   blue-eyed   daughter, 

May   even   o'er   my   tastes   prevail, 
And — for   her  eyes   do   cruel   slaughter — 

Make   me   forego   my   favorite   ale. 

VI  . 

But   only   for  a  little   season, 

An   hour   or   two   in   Jones'    Wood, 
For   when   returns   my   calmer   reason, 

I   shake   my   head   and   say,   "no   good." 
Lager   may   do   for   plump   Dutch   maiden, 

To   wash   down   Schweitzer   cheese   severe, 
But   I   prefer   my   table   laden 

With   Shrewsburys  and   Taylors'   beer. 

VII. 

The   Frenchman  may   declare   in   favor 

Of  wines   which   la   belle   France   bestows, 
Praise    Heidsick's   champagne   for   its   flavor, 

And   quite   adore   la    Veuve   Cliquot's. 
What   if  the   Turk   o'er   sherbet   lingers! 

Oscanyan    kept   it   once   for   sale 
In  his   bazaar— Allah!   his   fingers 

Now    oftener   clasp   our   mugs   of  ale. 


12 


VIII. 

The   Englishman,   so   grim   and   sober, 

Has   oftentimes   been  known    to  laugh 
Above   his   wife's  home-brewed   "  October, 

And   o'er   his   mugs   of  'alf  and   'alf. 
The  canny  Scot,  in  hours  of  leisure, 

Forgotten   'gainst   the   world   to   rail, 
And   taken  unco,   muckle   pleasure, 

Aboon   his   barley-bree   o'   ale. 


IX. 

His   Irish   neighbor,    of  whose   doings 

The   likeliest   is   making  love, 
In  poteen,   and  such  other   brewings, 

Shows   inspiration   from   above. 
And,   when   the  punch-  is   circling   cheerily, 

Not   one   who   drinks   would   have   it   fail, 
And   few   there   be,  who   love   it   dearly, 

Would  give   it  up   for   common   ale. 

X. 

Falstaff  drank   sack — it  was   essential, 

He  thought,   to   keep   his   courage   right, 
But   ale   had   been   much   more  potential, 

And   better   for   the   fat   old  knight. 
And   would   that   hero,   Tarn   O'Shanter, 

Have  ever   ventured  to   assail 
Witch   Nannie   with   rude  words   of  banter, 

But   for   John   Barleycorn's   strong   ale  ? 


'•. 


13 

XI. 

±|^>|gS  ?' 

1 

Ah  !    could   these   good   lads   but   have   tasted 

The    brewage   which   my  muse   extols, 

They'd   own   their   lives  had   half  been   wasted, 

In   quaffing,   Tom,   from   lesser   bowls. 

Yes,   yes,   Tom    Miller,   you   and   I   know 

Full   well   this   nectar,    sparkling,   pale, 

For   many,   a   time   our   final   rhino 

lias   gone   for   mugs   of  Taylors'    ale. 

XII. 

And   often,   Tom,    the   midnight   's   found   us 

Within   a   publican's  warm   room, 

With  jovial   comrades   seated   round   us, 

Forgetful   of  the   outside   gloom  : 

Forgetful   of  the   sleet   and   showers, 

Borne   on   the  chill   autumnal   gale  ; 

Forgetful   of  the   passing   hours, 

But  mindful   of  our   foaming   ale. 

XIII. 

October's   brewage,   pure   and   creamy, 

Fragrant   of  hops   and   malt   new-made, 

To   childhood's   days,    so   sweet   and   dreamy, 

Fraught  more  with  sunshine  than  with  shade, 

Carried   us   back  to   when   we   rambled 

With   pretty   Madge   o'er   hill   and   dale, 
While   trusty    Watch   before   us   gambolled, 
Long   ere  we   knew   the   taste  of  ale. 

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14 


XIV. 

The   scent   of  blossoming  hops   was   wafted 

From   fields   where   vines   innumerous   grew, 
And   'mid   its  perfume   there   was  grafted 

A   savor   which   the   barley   knew : 
Those   climbing  vines,   those   fields   of  barley, 

Heard   then   full   many   a   pleasant   tale, 
While   for   her    kisses   we   did   parley, 

Recalled   to   mind   now   o'er   our   ale. 

XV. 

Those  halcyon   days   long   since   have   vanished, 

For  Madge,   dear   Madge,   is  now  but   dust : 
Her   form   from   earth   forever  banished, 

Her   spirit   mingles   with   the  just. 
But   while   remembrance   bids   us   weep   her, 

Our   love   through   life   will   never   fail, 
For  in   our   heart   of  hearts  we'll   keep   her, 

And   drink   her   memory   in   our   ale. 

XVI. 

Among   the   ales   most  famed   in   story, 

From   Adam's   down — or   old   or   new — 
There's   none   possessing   half  the   glory, 

Or   half  the   life   of  Taylors'   brew. 
Their   "  amber"   brand   is   light   and  cheery, 

Their   "XX"   is   strong,   though   pale, 
But   give   to   me,   when   dull   and   weary, 

Their   cream,   imperial   "Astor"    ale. 


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15 


XVII. 

'Tis   blithe,   Tom,   in   the  early   morning, 

To    drain   a  pint   of  Taylors'   brew, 
And   woe  to   him   who   dares,   with   scorning, 

At   noon   to   take   aught   else   in   lieu : 
And   then,   when   evening  shadows   lengthen, 

No  other   tankard   should   prevail, 
While   still    the   day-worn   frame   to   strengthen, 

At    night   'tis   good    to   quaff'  more   ale. 

XVIII. 

Do   you   remember,   Tom,   the   cottage, 

The   old   inn   on   the   river's   bank, 
Where   we   ate   many   a  famous   pottage, 

And   many    a   cooling   draught  have   drank  ? 
And    those   three   rustic  signs   together, 

Triangular — that   braved   the   gale, 
Through   Summer   and  through   Winter   weather, 

Proclaiming   there   was   Taylors'   ale? 

XIX. 

That   quaint    old    inn,    Tom,    still    is    standing, 

And    near    it    's   grown    a    thriving    town, 
And    steamboats   touch    now    at  the   landing 

Both    going    up    and    coining    down. 
The    sign,    with   hop    vines   round    it   wreathing— 

The    try  sling    spot    of   all    the    vale — 
Still    hrar    tin-    lads    and    lasses    breathing 

Tlu-ir    vows    of  love    o'er   Taylors'    ale. 


16 


XX. 

I   do   recall   the   day — how   clearly, 

Though   almost   thirty   years   have   fled, 
When   I,   a  lad   of  ten   or  nearly, 

Saw   that   which   quite   perplexed  my  head. 
'Twas   on   a   steamboat,   in   September, 

At   Albany,   and   near   the   pier, 
And    I   was    sober,   to   remember, 

For    then    I   drank    no    mugs    of  beer. 

XXI. 

And   yet   I   could   have   sworn,   believe   me, 

That   I   was   tight  as   any   brick, 
Or    else   my   eyes,   which  ne'er   deceive   me, 

Had  played   me   quite  a   scurvy   trick, 
For   on   a   sign   which  hung  just   o'er  me, 

As   past  the  bulk-heads  we   did   sail, 
The   word   "Imperial"  gleamed   before   me, 

"  John   Taylor"   then,   and  then   "  Cream   Ale." 

XXII. 

It  's   more   than   Janus-faced   gyration, 

Its   mystic   union — three    in   one, 
Was^  to    my    young    imagination, 

The   greatest   wonder   under   sun. 
And   long   my   mind  upon   it   Avandered, 

But   little   did   it   all   avail, 
Until,   as   through   the  streets   I   wandered, 

I   stopped   and   bought    a   mug   of  ale. 


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17 


XXIII. 

And   then,   with   subtle   comprehension, 

I   solved   the   riddle  .of  the  sign, 
And   deemed    it   was   a   great   invention, 

One   odd   and  novel   in   design. 
And   now,   when   many   a   year  has   faded, 

While   still   it  braves   the   sun   and  gale, 
I   learn   'twas   planned   and   made,   unaided, 

By    him    who   brewed    this    famous   ale. 

XXIV. 

And   more,  I've   heard   with   admiration, 

That   often   times   he   wrote  in   verse, 
And   held   full  many   a   civic   station, 

And   filled   full   many   an   orphan's  purse. 
And   till   death's   hand   came   o'er   him   stealing, 

He   was   as   hearty   and   as   hale, 
And   fresh   and   youthful   in   his  feeling, 

As   when   he   brewed   his   earliest  ale. 

XXV. 

Long,   long   old   Albany   will   honor 

His   name,   and   keep   his   memory   green, 
For  he   shed   endless   glory   on   her, 

And   she   no   worthier   son   has   seen. 
And  now  he's   gone — but  though  departed, 

And   both   his   sons   their   loss  bewail, 
The   world   need   not   be   broken-hearted, 

For   still   they   brew   this   favorite   ale. 


18 


XXVI. 

'Twas   only   last   week,   Tom,   on   Sunday, 

In   Albany   I   met   with   Saxe, 
Who   doesn't   care   for   Mrs.    Grundy, 

And   always   pays   his   income   tax  ; 
And   as   we   walked   that   quaint,   Dutch   city, 

Seeing  no   children   weak   or   pale, 
He   said,   'twas   rude,   perhaps,   but   witty, 

"Their   mothers'   milk   is   Taylor's   ale." 

XXVII. 

And   ever,   Tom,   in  joy   or   sorrow, 

Go   where   I   may   throughout   the   land, 
Whether   the   cash  I   have   to   borrow 

Or   hold    it   ready   in   my   hand, 
I   search   hotel,   saloon   and   cellar, 

As   knights   once   sought   the   holy   grail, 
Until   I  find   an   honest   "  fellar" 

Who   keeps   a   tap  of  Taylors'    ale. 


XXVIII. 

And   then    straightway    I    "plank"    the   money, 

And   order   up  a  mug   of  ale — 
And   afterwards   exclaim,    "  Now,    sonny, 

Look   sharp,   another   mug   of  ale." 
And   then — well,   I  repeat   the   order, 

And   replicate,   and  never   fail, 
Until   I   touch   upon   the   border 

Of  half-a-dozen   mugs   of  ale. 


19 


XXI      . 

And   as   the   foaming   goblets   vanish, 

Peace   takes   possession   of  my    soul  ; 
The   world,   with   all    its   cares,    I   banish, 

And,   golden-like,   the   moments   roll. 
Once   more   I   dream   the   dreams   of  glory, 

Which   in    my   boyhood   did   prevail, 
When   life   was   but   a   fairy   story, 

Bright   as   the   sparkles   on   the   ale. 

XXX. 

And   then — Tom  Miller,  cease   your   laughing — 

Put   on   your   hat  and   go   with   me, 
If  you   don't   care   for   such  deep   quaffing, 

We'll   keep   the   number   down   to   three. 
Yet   stay,  just   feel   within   your   pockets — 

The   very   thought   makes   me   turn   pale ! 
If  you've   no   greenbacks,   like   spent  rockets 

Must   disappear   our   wished-for   ale. 

XXXI. 

For   I'm   a   rhymer,   Tom,   and   never 

Have   dollars   in   my   slender   purse, 
And   still   I've  sometimes   thought,  however, 

A   few   would  make   it   none   the   worse. 
But   one   can't   have   both   wealth   and   genius, 

Therefore   I'll   not   at   fortune   rail; 
To   do   so   were  a   crime   most   heinous, 

But — can   you   pay    for  any   ale  ? 


20 


XXXII. 

"  All   right !"   you   say     then   let's   be  jolly, 

You'll   square   the   bin,   I'll   round   a   tale, 
About   a   poet's   love   and   folly, 

Between    our   pewter   mugs   of  ale. 
We'll   have   some   oysters,   and   a   salad, 

A   dish   of  mushrooms,   and   a   quail, 
And — yes,   I'll   read   this   simple   ballad, 

Concerning  Taylors'   sparkling   ale. 


ANTIQUARIAN,  HISTORICAL  AND  LITERARY. 


UBINGr  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  con 
siderable  attention  has  been  devoted  by 
philanthropists  and  publicists  to  the  sub 
ject  of  Malt  Liquors.  It  grew  into  im- 
imposing  prominence  in  our  State  during 
the  liquor  law  excitement,  from  the  leading 
position  of  New  York,  as  one  of  the 
foremost  hop  -  growing  States  in  the  world.  The 
question  was  argued  from  every  stand  -  point.  One 
writer  was  opposed  to  the  law,  as  referring  to 
malt  beverages,  on  the  ground  of  State  policy,  State 
health  and  State  wealth.  Another,  taking  a  Biblical 
view  of  the  subject,  and  instancing  the  recommenda 
tion  of  certain  drinks  to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures — 
in  Genesis,  Nehemiah,  Ecclesiastes,  Leviticus,  Ephesians, 
Peter,  &c.,  was  of  opinion  that  the  "beverage  so  fre 
quently  referred  to  was  no  other  than  barley  wine,  or 
beer."  A  third  reviewed  the  farming  interests  involved, 
and  a  fourth  thought  the  advocacy  of  beer  or  ale  a 
fair  and  moderate  middle  ground  between  the  extreme 


22 


pro-liquor  men,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  extreme 
anti-liquor  men,  on  the  other. 

The  mention  of  beer,  or  fermented  liquor,  is,  in  the 
common  phrase,  as  old  as  the  hills.  If  the  antiquity 
of  its  appearance  on  the  historical  records  of  Old 
Earth  has  any  recommendatory  qualification,  as  is  fre 
quently  the  case  with  other  things,  certainly  its  im 
portance  will  not  be  considered  far  behind  almost 
any  other  article  of  domestic  use. 

Tradition,  failing  in  the  remoteness  of  the  earlier 
stages  of  its  being  to  fix  with  certainty  the  invention 
of  beer  on  earth,  takes  refuge  in  the  regions  of  my 
thology,  and  accords  its  first  creation  to  the  god  Bacchus. 
Whether  beer  owes  its  paternity  to  the  jolly  Daemon 
Bonus  (one  of  the  many  names  given  to  the  god  of 
wine,  because,  at  all  feasts  the  last  glass  was  drank 
to  his  honor),  or  to  any  less  heathen  or  more  drunken 
demi-god,  is  a  matter  of  small  consequence  in  these 
days  of  earthly  progressiveness.  If,  however,  we  reason 
ably  agree  with  Boyse*  that  no  Bacchus  ever  existed, 
but  that  he  was  only  a  masque,  or  figure  of  some 
concealed  truth,  and  adopt  his  reading  of  Horace's  ode 
to  that  "great  spirit,"f  to  wit,  that  Bacchus  meant 
no  more  than  the  improvement  of  the  world,  by  the 
cultivation  of  agriculture,  and  the  planting  of  the  vine, 
then  we  may,  perchance,  comprehend  the  importance 
which  the  production  of  beer  had  for  our  ancestors, 
when  they  fathered  its  initiation  on  that  "masque  or 
figure,"  which  to  them  symbolized  the  "improvement 
of  the  world,"  by  agriculture  ;  an  art,  in  the  opinion 
of  wise  men,  from  Moses  to  Vattel  and  Audrey 

*  Pantheon,  p.  125. 

f  Horace,  book  ii.,  ode  xix. 


Johnson,    the  most    useful    and    necessary   of    all    others 
to   man.* 

Leaving,  however,  that  point  where  tradition,  for 
whatever  purpose,  seeks  an  authority  in  the  classic 
heaven  of  myth  and  fable,  and  coming  down  to  the 
earliest  earthly  authorities,  we  have  but  to  step  from 
the  heights  of  Olympus  to  the  regions  of  the  celes 
tial  empire ;  the  records  of  which  at  once  chronicle 
the  earthly  invention  and  fascinating  character  of  the 
Chinese  beverage.  We  readf  that  under  the  Government 
of  the  Emperor  Yu,  or  Ta-Yu,  before  Christ  2207, 
the  making  of  ale  or  wine  from  rice  was  invented  by 
an  ingenious  agriculturalist  named  I-tye ;  and  that  as 
the  use  of  this  liquor  was  likely  to  be  attended  with 
evil  consequences,  the  Emperor  expressly  forbid  the 
manufacture  or  drinking  of  it,  under  the  severest  pen 
alties.  He  even  renounced  it  himself,  and  dismissed 
his  cup-bearer,  lest,  as  he  said,  his  successors  might 
suffer  their  hearts  to  be  effeminated  (softened)  with  so 
delicious  a  beverage.  This,  however,  had  not  the  de 
sired  effect,  for  having  once  tasted  it,  the  people 
would  never  afterwards  entirely  abstain  from  the  be 
witching  draught.  It  was,  even  at  a  very  early  period, 
carried  to  such  excess,  and  consumed  in  such  abund 
ance,  that  the  Emperor  Kya,  the  Nero  of  China,  in 
1836,  before  Christ,  compelled  three  thousand  of  his 
subjects  to  jump  into  a  large  lake  which  he  had  pre 
pared  and  filled  with  ale;  while  Chin-Vang,  in  1120, 
thought  it  prudent  to  assemble  the  Princess  to  suppress 


*  See  Discussion  on  the  Homestead  Bill,  Life  of  President  Johnsqn, 
Ac.,  p.  61. 

f  See  authorities  quoted  in  S.  More  wood's  "  Essay  on  the  Inventions 
and  Customs  of  Ancients  and  Moderns  in  the  use  of  Inebriating  Drinks." 


24 


its     manufacture,    as    the     source    of   endless    misfortune 
in  his  realm.* 

Coming  to  what  appeals  more  to  our  reason,  we 
find  that  Herodotus,  whose  writings  are  the  first  extant 
of  Grecian  historians,  and  who  flourished  in  the  close 
of  the  fifth  century  previous  to  the  Christian  era,  sets 
beer  down  as  an  Egyptian  invention,  and  ascribes  its 
discovery  to  Isis,  wife  of  Assyris.  She  brewed  a  wine 
or  beverage  from  barley:  and  Mr.  Talboys  Wheeler,  in 
his  remarkable  literary  panorama  of  the  history,  man 
ners,  arts  and  social  condition  of  the  ancients  of  that 
day,  tells  us  that,  as  vines  did  not  grow  in  Egypt, 
the  wines  of  Greece  and  Phoenicia  were  very  largely 
imported  and  consumed  by  those  able  to  enjoy  such 
indulgence,  but  those  who  could  not  buy  the  foreign 
growths,  drunk  a  kind  of  home-made  wine  or  beer 
produced  from  barley,  which,  however,  was  very  su 
perior  to  the  ale  drunk  by  the  lower  orders  in 
Greece.f  Xenophon,  in  his  description  of  the  retreat 
of  the  ten  thousand  (of  which  he  was  a  general),  after 
the  battle  of  Cunaxa,  sixty  miles  from  Babylon,  in  the 
year  401,  B.  C.,  mentions  beer  as  a  beverage.  Diodorus 
Siculus,  who  flourished  in  the  first  century  before 
Christ,  alludes  to  a  fermented  decoction  of  barley  as 
one  of  the  ordinary  beverages  of  the  Egyptians,  and 
Tacitus  (born  Anno  Domini  57)  adopts  the  dates  given 
by  the  older  Greek  writers,  and  states  that  such  a 
drink  was  much  used  by  the  Germans.  "  Their  drink 

*  Du   Halde,    vol.    1 ;  150,    159,   433. .  Morewood,    114. 

•)•  The  Life  and  Travels  of  Herodotus,  in  the  fifth  century  before 
Christ:  an  imaginary  biography,  founded  on  fact,  Ac.,  <fec.,  by  J. 
Talboys  Wheeler,  F.  R.  G-.  S.,  &c.,  2  vols. 

•    ^ 


25 


is   a  liquor  prepared  from  barley  or  wheat,  brought  by 
fermentation   to   a   certain  resemblance   of  wine."* 

According  to  him,  the  Romans  as  well  as  the 
Germans,  at  a  very  early  period,  learned  the  art  of 
fermentation  from  the  Egyptians.  Pliny  also,  noticing 
the  drinks  made  from  corn,  says  that  Zythum  is  made 
in  Egypt,  Celia  and  Ceria  in  Spain,  and  Cervisia  and 
many  more  sorts  in  Gaul.  The  people  of  Spain,  es 
pecially,  he  tells  us,  had  arrived  at  great  perfection  in 
the  manufacture  of  the  beverage;  and  that  it 'could  be 
kept  to  a  great  age.  It  is  supposed  by  some  com 
mentators  that  Pliny's  exclamation,  "Heu,  mira  vitiorum 
solertia!  inventum  est  quemadmodum  aqua  quoque 
inebriaret,"  (Oh !  the  wonderful  sagacity  of  our  vices  ! 
They  have,  by  some  means  or  other,  discovered  how  to 
make  even  water  intoxicating),  was  intended  to  indicate 
distillation  ;  but,  taken  in  connection  with  his  preceding 
remarks  on  the  liquor  of  the  western  nations,  "that 
it  was  made  of  steeped  grain,"  and  "taken  pure,  and 
not  diluted  as  wine  is,"  we  agree  with  Morewood 
that  the  passage  means  nothing  more  than  the  intoxi 
cating  power  or  strength  acquired  by  the  water  in  the 
fermenting  process  of  the  grain.  The  Zythum  was  the 
beer  spoken  of  by  Herodotus.  Cereviscia  or  cervisia  was 
the  appropriate  name  given  to  the  beverage  by  the 
Romans,  as  being  made  from  corn,  the  gift  of  Ceres. 
In  the  Maleria  Medico,  malt  liquor  retains  this  title. 
The  Egyptians  had  also  a  barley  decoction  called 
Kourmi,  milder  in  flavor  than  Zythum  ;  it  was  mixed 
with  honey.  The  early  Greeks  had  a  beer  which 
they  termed  Pinon,  and  a  famous  beverage  of  this 


26 


nature  was  the  Pelusian,  named  from  the  place  of 
its  production,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile.  We  may, 
indeed,  infer  from  the  notices  found  in  historians,  that 
drinks  analagous  to  our  beer  were  in  use  among  the 
ancient  Gauls,  Germans,  and,  in  fact,  almost  every 
people  of  our  Temperate  Zone;  and  they  are  still  the 
universal  beverages  where  the  vine  is  not  the  object  of 
rustic  husbandry.*  At  the  ancient  feasts  of  the  Gauls, 
wine  and  beer  were  the  liquors  indulged  in,  the  last 
being  the  most  extensively  used  of  the  two. 

Beer  was  the  national  drink  of  the  Teutons.  It  was 
the  potent  beverage  of  the  heroes  and  sea  rovers  of 
Norse-land,  and  not  only  filled  up  the  measure  of 
delight,  next  to  fighting,  in  this  world,  but  entered 
largely  into  their  expected  joys  in  Valhalla.  To  drink 
ale  in  the  halls  of  Odin,  even  from  the  skulls  of 
their  foes,  deprived  death  of  its  terrors.  The  death 
chant  of  Eagnar  Lodbrog,  a  famous  sea  king,  who 
was  captured  and  killed  in  prison  by  a  Northumbrian 
king,  about  A.  D.  865,  exhibits  the  beer  hopes  of  the 
Norse  heroes : 

"  We  fought  with   our  swords — still  I  delight 
When  I  think  of  the  banquet  prepared 
By   the  father  of  Balder  to  regale  the  brave; 
There  we   shall  copiously  drink  of  ale, 
Out  of  cups  which  are  formed  of  the 

Skulls  of  our  foes." 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

"Now  cease  our  song — the  goddesses  come 
And  invite  me  home  to  the  Hall  of  Odin; 
Happy  there,   on  a  high  raised  throne, 
Seated  with  gods,   I  shall  quaff  my  ale." 


*Dr.   Ure. 


27 


In  one  of  the  Danish  ballads,  the  mighty  "  Thor  of 
Asgard"  having  lost  his  hammer,  goes  disguised  as  a 
maid  to  the  Thusser  King,  in  whose  possession  it  was, 
when 

"They  took  her,   the  young  and  bashful  bride, 

To  sit  on   her  bridal  chair, 
And  forward  stepped  the   Thusser  King 

Himself  to  serve  the  fair. 
•  ***•* 

' '  A  whole  ox-carcase  the  maid  ate  up, 

Her  loaves  and  her  bacon  first, 
And  then   twelve  barrels  of  ale  she  drank, 
Before   she  could  quench   her   thirst." 

When  the  hammer  was  forthcoming,  the  maid, 
thus  strengthened,  took  it  and  laid  about  her  in  very 
fierce  style.  Northern  literature  is  full  of  references 
illustrating  the  ancient  history  of  the  beverage.  This 
verse,  from  another  old  Danish  ballad,  is  -only  a  varia 
tion  of  the  general  business  of  the  Vikings— drinking 
and  going  to  sea;  or,  to  use  a  well  known  phrase, 
which  unites  both  duties,  getting  three  sheets  in  the 
wind 

"To-night  we'll  drink  a  full    carouse, 

Can   we  but  get   the   ale; 
To-morrow,   if  the  breeze  is  fair, 
We'll  put  to  sea  and  sail." 

The  Scandinavians  called  it  Ijor,  which  was  con- 
.verted  into  leer  by  the  Anglo-Saxons — whence  comes 
the  title  so  familiar  to  us  at  the  present  day.  The 
beverage  was  known  in  England  at  a  very  early 
period.  We  find  an  evident  reference  to  it  by  Eu- 
menes,  in  his  panegyric  on  Constantius,  in  the  year 
A.  D.  296,  when  noting  the  remarkable  fact  that 
Britain  produced  such  abundance  of  corn  that  it  was 


28 


not  only  sufficient  to  supply  bread,  but  also  a  drink 
comparable  to  wine.  This,  no  doubt,  was  ale,  or  beer, 
as  it  is  indiscriminately,  but  not  correctly  called. 

In  the  laws  given  by  Ina,  king  of  the  west  Saxons, 
or  Wessex,  to  his  people  and  the  conquered  Britons 
of  Somerset,  mention  is  made  of  aje  "houses.  This 
prince  is  characterized  as  wise,  just,  and  possessing  a 
"  humanity  hitherto  unknown  to  the  Saxon  conquerors,"* 
and  his  "  long  reign  of  thirty-seven  years  (from  A.  D. 
688  to  726)  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
glorious  and  prosperous  of  the  Heptarchy."f 

A  sample  of  Ina's  wisdom  may  be  given,  especially 
as,  while  it  exhibits  his  appreciation  of  the  liquor,  it 
also  indicates  the  progress  of  ale  as  a  popular  drink. 
Its  manufacture  had  become  of  such  consequence  in  the 
year  694,  that  Ina  directed  that  "every  possessor  of  a 
farm  of  ten  hides  of  land,  or  as  much  as  required  ten 
ploughs,  should,  among  other  articles,  pay  him  twelve 
ambers  of  Welsh  ale,"  each  containing  above  seven 
gallons  of  English  wine  measure.  In  728,  during  the 
reign  of  Ethelbald,  tenth  king  of  the  Mercians,  and 
fifteenth  monarch  over  the  seven  Saxon  kingdoms,  ale 
booths  were  set  up,  their  necessity  becoming  more  ex 
tensive,  and  laws  were  instituted  for  their  regulation. 
In  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Confessor  ale  is  expressly 
mentioned  as  one  of  the  liquors  for  a  royal  banquet. 
The  progress  of  beer  or  ale  drinking  was  rapid,  and 
a  large  portion  of  time  seems  to  have  been  devoted 
to  it  by  all  the  old  northern  nations.  The  custom 
furnishes  many  picturesque  passages  and  scenes  in 


*  Imperial  History  of  England.     By   T.   Camden.     2   vols.,   folio, 
f  Ibid. 


,  k. 

:?r 


29 


Charles  Kingsley's  recent  work,  "  Ilereward,  the  Last 
of  the  English,"  which  is  chiefly  interesting  from  the 
descriptions  of  the  manners  and  customs  before  and 
at  the  period  of  the  Norman  Conquest.  These  were 
the  days  when  great  fighting  earls  and  chiefs,  like 
Alef,  a  Cornish  kinglet,  used  to  hold  state  and  festi 
val  on  a  high-backed  wooden  settle,  at  the  end  of  a 
long  oaken  table,  well  filled  with  boiled  beef,  bar 
ley  cakes  and  ale.  The  young  bloods  of  those  days 
were  not  characterized  by  that  effeminacy  which  is  a 
leading  feature  of  the  sons  of  \vealthy  or  prominent 
men  in  our  day.  What  our  moderns  have  learned  in 
demeanor  or  deportment,  as  Turveydrop  would  say, 
they  have  sadly  lost  in  animal  vim,  courage  and 
public  spirit.  Ilereward,  we  find,  even  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  had  a  following  of  house-carles,  and  was  a 
terror  "at  wakes  and  fairs,  ale  houses  and  village 
sports."  No  doubt  the  muscles  of  the  former  were 
more  expanded  than  their  minds,  still  they  proved  good 
fighters  and  patriots  when  the  day  of  necessity  came. 
In  their  sports  or  councils  ale  was  a  prominent  in 
spiration  and  pledge  of  faith.  The  mode  by  which 
the  liquors  of  the  ancient  Britons  and  other  Celtic 
nations  was  made,  as  described  by  Isidorus  and 
Orosius,  did  not  differ  materially  from  the  method  at 
present  pursued.  "  The  grain  was  steeped  in  water 
and  made  to  germinate,  by  which  its  spirits  were  ex 
cited  and  set  at  liberty;  it  was  then  dried  and 
ground,  after  which  it  was  infused  in  a  certain  quantity 
of  water,  and  being  fermented,  it  became  a  pleasant, 
warming,  strengthening,  and  intoxicating  beverage." 
This  ale,  says  Morewood,  alluding  to  the  above,  was 
commonly  made  of  barley,  but  sometimes  of  wheat, 
oats,  and  millet.  The  ancient  Welsh  and  Scots  had 


tf 

air 


30 


two  kinds  of  it,  called  common  and  spiced  ale,  and  the 
value  of  each  was  determined  by  law.  "If  a  farmer 
hath,  no  mead,  he  shall  pay  two  casks  of  spiced  ale, 
or  four  casks  of  common  ale  for  one  cask  of  mead." 
Thus,  a  cask  of  spiced  ale,  "  nine  palms  in  height  and 
eighteen  in  diameter,  was  valued  at  a  sum  equal  to 
£7  10s.  of  our  present  coin,*  and  a  cask  of  common 
ale,  of  the  same  size,  at  a  sum  equal  to  £3  13s." 

In  the  thirty-fifth  article  of  the  Magna  Charta, 
granted  by  King  John  19th  June,  1215,  touching 
weights  and  measures,  wine  and  ale  are  the  only 
drinks  mentioned,  and  a  uniform  measure  ordained  for 
them  all  over  the  country.f 

Bread  and  ale  were  associated  together  as  positive 
necessaries  of  life,  as  is  shown  by  the  ordinances 
which  were  instituted  from  time  to  time  regulating  the 
prices  of  both.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  Third — middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century — the  manufacture  of  ale  had 
become  of  such  consequence  that  its  price  was  fixed 
in  proportion  to  that  of  corn  and  wine.:}:  A  sta 
tute  was  passed,  1256  (the  preamble  of  which  al 
ludes  to  other  statutes  on  the  same  subject),  which 
enacted  that  "  when  a  quarter  of  wheat  was  sold  for 
3s.  or  3s.  4id.j  and  a  quarter  of  barley  for  20  pence 
or  24  pence,  and  a  quarter  of  oats  for  15  pence, 
brewers  in  cities  could  afford  to  sell  two  gallons  of 
ale  for  Id.,  and  out  of  cities  three  gallons  for  Id. ; 
and  when  in  a  town  three  gallons  are  sold  for  \d., 
out  of  town  they  may  and  ought  to  sell  four." 


*  1824.     More  wood. 

f  Sic.  —  Article    35.      There    shall    be    only    one    measure    of  wine 
through   all  our  kingdom,   and  one  measure   of  ale,   &c. 
\  Hume.     Vol.   2. 


81 


In  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth  houses  for  the 
sale  of  ale  were  first  licensed,  and  about  a  half  cen 
tury  afterwards,  in  the  reign  of  James  the  First,  1621, 
the  power  of  licensing  inns  and  ale  houses  was  granted 
by  letters  patent  to  particular  individuals;  but  this 
system  disclosing  great  abuses,  the  same  mode  was 
applied  to  it  as  in  the  collection  of  other  branches  of 
assize. 

The  duty  imposed  on  beer  during  the  reign  of  the 
Merrie  Monarch,  Charles  the  Second,  and  granted  to 
him  for  life,  was  two  shillings  and  sixpence  per  barrel 
on  strong,  and  sixpence  on  table  beer.  The  King 
farmed  the  grant  out  until  1684,  when  this  source  of 
revenue  was  placed  under  commissioners.  The  duties 
were  nearly  doubled  on  strong  beer,  and  more  than 
doubled  on  table  beer  after  the  revolution,  during  the 
reign  of  William  and  Mary:  "but  the  product  was 
not  so  great  as  heretofore,  and  they  afterwards  con 
tinued  to  fluctuate  according  to  the  change  of  duties." 
Parliamentary  papers,  given  by  Morewood,  state  the 
net  revenue  for  1821,  at  which  period  he  was  engaged 
on  his  valuable  work,  as  £2,549,620  18s.  9£d  In 
1822  there  were  in  London  alone  ninety-eight  brewers 
and  thirty-seven  licensed  victuallers,  who  brewed  2,000,- 
932  barrels,  of  which  1,673,603  were  strong  and  327,- 
329  table  beer.  In  the  rest  of  England  were  1,488 
brewers  and  20,575  licensed  victuallers,  who  brewed 
5,547,875  barrels,  of  which  4,345,015  were  strong  and 
1,202,860  table  beer.* 

This  was  exclusive  of  porter,  which  had  been  dis 
covered  about  a  century  previous,  by  a  man  named 


*  Parliamentary  papers  quoted   by   Morewood. 


32 


Harwood,  who,  to  avoid  the  trouble  of  mixing  beer, 
ale,  and  two-penny,  a  concoction  then  in.  demand,  con 
trived  to  brew  a  liquor  to  answer  the  same  end.  It 
derived  its  name  from  being  chiefly  consumed  by 
porters.  At  the  time  represented  by  the  preceding 
figures,  the  annual  production  of  porter  in  London 
was  over  1,316,345  barrels,  of  thirty-six  gallons  each. 
In  1834  there  were  sixty  thousand  retailers  of  beer 
and  ale  in  England,  and  the  returns  for  the  British 
Islands,  some  nine  years  ago,  showed  2,150  public 
breweries,  stated  as  exclusive  of  retail  and  intermediate 
brewers,  of  which  there  are  in  England  alone  about 
1,400,  besides  28,000  victuallers,  who  brew  their  own 
ale. 

In  Scotland,  in  remote  times,  the  inhabitants,  it  is 
said,  brewed  an  ale  which  was  called  Loin,  a  word 
signifying  provisions, — it  being,  doubtless,  regarded  as 
both  meat  and  drink.  It  was  not,  however,  until  1482, 
that  its  government  officially  took  notice  of  the 
manufacture  of  beer  or  ale.  At  the  union  of  that 
country  with  England,  the  regulations  pertaining  to  the 
latter  were  extended  to  the  former.  As  the  duties 
advanced  the  breweries  decreased  in  Scotland.  In  1720 
the  product  of  two-penny,  the  chief  malt  liquor  in 
use,  was  520,487  barrels;  in  1779  it  had  decreased  to 
152,465  barrels.  The  brewing  of  the  varieties  of  strong 
and  table  beer  was  introduced  in  the  reign  of  George 
III,  but  the  joint  product  did  not  average  half  what 
it  was  at  the  first  date  given. 

In  Ireland  ale  was  known  at  a  very  remote  era. 
From  its  very  early  settlement  by  Eastern  emigrants,  it 
is  taken  for  granted  by  the  antiquarians  that  a  know 
ledge  of  such  fermentation  or  distillation  as  was  known 
accompanied  commercial  intercourse,  the  cultivation  of 


•X^vj/1  s    >s — 


33 


philosophy  and  the  arts.  Tacitus,  in  his  "  Agricola" 
(A.  D.  97),  tells  us  that  though  the  soil,  and  climate, 
and  manners,  and  dispositions  of  its  inhabitants  are  little 
different  from  those  of  Britain,  "its  ports  and  harbors 
are  better  known,  from  the  concourse  of  merchants  for 
the  purposes  of  commerce."  Home-brewed  ale  was  in 
common  use  in-  Ireland  before  A.  D.  500.  Ware  says, 
"  the  ancient  and  peculiar  drink  of  the  Irish  was  ale." 
Dioscorides  takes  notice  of  this  drink  in  a  passage,  where 
he  says  that  the  Britons  and  Irish  (whom  he  calls  Hi- 
beri)  instead  of  wine  use  a  liquor  called  Curmij  made  of 
barley.  But  Camden  observes  that  "Curmi  in  that  place 
is  corruptly  written  for  the  old  British  word  Cwrw* 
which  signifies  ale;  which  last  name  it  took  from  the 
Danes,  who  call  it  Oel.  This  is  the  liquor  which 
Julian  the  Apostate,  in  an  epigram  calls  'the  offspring 
of  corn,  and  wine  without  wine.'  The  Irish  have  no 
name  for  this  drink  that  I  know  of  but  leaun^  which 
signifies  liquor  in  general,  but  they  understand  it  by 
ale.  Beer,  or  ale,  brewed  with  hops  to  preserve  it 
long,  is  a  liquor  of  no  antiquity."  A  very  curious  and 
interesting  passage  in  Jonas'  Life  of  St.  Golumbanus, 
who  flourished  during  the  close  of  the  sixth  and  first 
decade  of  the  seventh  centuries,  briefly  and  pointedly 
illustrates  the  subject,  thus: 

"When    the     hour    of    refreshment     approached,    the 
minister    of   the    refectory    endeavored    to    serve    about 


*  Camden  is  doubtless  in  error,  as  the  name  of  tho  barley  beer  made 
by  the  Egyptians  was  called  Kurmi,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  tho  emigrants  from  tho  East  brought  the  name  as  well  as  tho 
liquor  itself  into  Ireland.  J.  S. 

f  Assimilating  to   the   Scotch  Loin.  J.  S. 


the  ale  (cervesiam),  which  is  bruised  from  the  juice  of 
wheat  and  barley,  and  which,  above  all  nations  of  the 
earth,  except  the  Scordiscae  and  Dardans,  who  inhabit 
the  borders  of  the  ocean,  those  of  Gaul,  Britain, 
Ireland,  and  Germany,  and  others  who  are  not  unlike 
them  in  manners,  use;  he  carried  to  the  cellar  a  vessel 
which  they  called  typrus,  and  placed  it  before  the 
vessel  in  which  the  ale-  was  deposited,  when  having 
touched  the  spigot,  he  suffered  it  to  run  into  the 
typnm" 

A  northern  tradition  declares  that  a  heather -beer 
was  brewed  by  the  Danes  in  Ireland,  in  the  ninth 
century. 

A  recent %  journal*  gives  an  account  of  the  discovery 
of  an  ancient  Irish  brewery  in  the  County  Cork.  It 
appears  that  for  several  years  back  a  farmer  living 
near  the  Club-house  Cross,  a  few  miles  south  of 
Dunmanway,  was  often  impeded  in  the  plowing  of 
one  of  his  fields  by  what  he  considered  a  piece 
of  bogwood.  Not  having  any  time  to  spare  on  those 
occasions,  he  used  to  pass  it  over.  This  year,  having 
made  up  his  mind  to  sow  turnips  in  the  field,  he  and 
one  of  his  laborers  set  to  work  to  remove  the  old 
obstruction,  and,  on  digging  about  it  and  bringing  it 
to  the  surface,  they  were  surprised  to  find  a  strong 
oak  beam,  well  fashioned  with  some  sharp  instrument, 
and  having  a  square  hole  at  one  end,  as  well  made  as 
it  would  be  by  any  country  carpenter  of  the  present 
day.  They  persevered,  and  brought  to  light  another 
and  another.  Soon  the  news  spread,  and  all  the 
neighbors  flocked  in  to  see  what  was  going  on,  and 


*  Cork    Constitution,   May,  1866. 


35 

they   cheerfully  assisted  to   unveil  the  mysterious  build 
ing — a  building  which  the  oldest  people  in  the  vicinity 
had  never   heard  of,   and  which    evidently   belonged   to 
an    age    long    since  buried    in  the   murky   past.      After 
a    great    deal    more     shoveling    they    came    upon    what 
they  thought  and  felt  convinced  was  the  coffin  of  some 
old  king,  and  their  hearts  rose  high.       Who  knew  but 
that  the  Royal  Firbolg,   or  Milesian,   or   Dane,    or  who 
ever   he   was,   lay   there   with    his    crown   on    his    head 
and  his  sceptre  in  his  hand,  or  he   might  be   some  old 
bishop    who   lived    in    the   good    old    times,    and    might 
have   a   gold   cross   on   his  breast,    and   a   jewelled   pyx 
beside   him.      Dragging  it  up  on   end— for    they  couldn't 
wait    to    disinter    it    properly  —  they    removed    the    lid, 
which  was  securely  fastened  down  by  oaken  pins,  and, 
alas!    the   coffin  did  not  even   contain   the    residuum   to 
which    all    humanity   must    eventually    come— dust    and 
ashes.       The    coffin    was     a    water-shoot,    and    nothing 
more.       The     place    was    immediately    visited    by    Mr. 
Zachariah   Hawkes,    an    eminent   antiquary,    Mr.    George 
Bennett,  and  others.      Mr.   Hawkes   minutely  scrutinized 
everything,  took  the   measurement  of  the  various  beams, 
the    remains    of    the    old    flooring,    the    millstone,    only 
half    of     which    was     discovered,     and    which,    on    the 
rim,     was     as    well     chiselled     as    if    it    were   but    the 
work   of  yesterday;    and,   after   considering   all   the   evi 
dences    before    him,   he   was   quite    confident    that    what 
he    saw    were    the   remains  of  an  old    Danish   brewery, 
which   was    used    by    some    of    these    adventurous     in 
truders,    during    their    stay    in    Ireland,    for    brewing    a 
kind   of  drink   which    they  made   from   heath. 

History  records,  that  in  1156  the  Irish  had  con 
siderable  trade  with  Chester,  and  supplied  the  latter 
with  many  of  the  necessaries  of  life;  also,  that  in 


36 


1300,  when  King  Edward  of  England  was  carrying  on 
warlike  operations  in  the  South  of  Scotland,  he  was 
supplied  from  Ireland  with  a  considerable  number  of 
cargoes  of  wheat,  oats,  malt  and  ale.  Campion,  in  his 
History  of  Ireland,  states  that  a  knight  who  lived  in 
1350,  named  Savage  —  of  the  Anglo  -  Norman  family 
which  settled  in  the  North  in  1172,  and  had,  in  the 
struggles  of  the  times,  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
English  and  the  Irish,  as  necessity  and  the  varying 
local  ties  of  party  warranted — having  raised  a  body  of 
fighting  men,  allowed  to  every  soldier,  before  he 
buckled  with  the  enemy,  a  mighty  draught  of  aqua 
vitce,  ivine,  or  old  ale. 

From  Harris'  H&ernica  we  find  that  in  the  reign 
of  the  eighth  Henry  it  was  decreed  that  no  ale  should 
be  sold  above  2d.  per  gallon,  upon  pain  of  8d.  toties 
quoties ;  that  there  be  but  one  maker  of  aqua  vitce  in 
every  borough  town,  upon  pain  of  6s.  8d. ;  and  that 
no  wheaten  malt  go  to  any  Irishman's  country,  upon 
pain  of  forfeiture  of  the  same  in  value,  except  only 
bread,  ale,  or  aqua  vitce. 

In  ancient  Gaul  beer  had  the  supremacy  over  wine 
as  a  beverage;  but,  as  Diodorus  Siculus  says,  they  be 
came  so  fond  of  the  wine  of  Italy,  before  it  began  to 
abound  in  their  own  country,  that  they  have  been 
known  to  give  a  slave  for  a  gallon.  Their  excesses 
were  without  bounds.  It  is  said  that  a  whole  vintage 
was  exhausted  at  a  single  feast  of  the  Lusitanians. 
Ale,  however,  was  not  lost  sight  of:  but  it  was  not 
until  A.  D.  1268,  a  few  years  after  the  English  measures 
on  the  subject,  that  its  manufacture  was  deemed  of 
sufficient  importance  to  warrant  the  drawing  up  of 
laws  to  regulate  the  trade  in  Paris.  The  brewers  at 
that  time  were  called  Cervoisiers,  from  Cervoise,  a 


^r 

French  equivalent  for  the  Latin  name  of  the  liquor. 
The  abuses  in  the  breweries  led  to  a  revision  of  the 
laws  in  1489  :  again,  in  1630,  ten  new  regulations 
were  added  to  the  Code,  and  registered  in  the  Park- 
ment  in  1714.  In  1801  there  were  seventv  -  eight 
master  brewers  in  Paris.  The  desire  of  the  French 
to  have  pure  beverage  is  illustrated  by  the  facts  re 
lating  to  brewing  at  the  period  which  have  come  down 
to  us.  No  one  could  then  (and  for  all  we  know 
can  now  )  open  or  carry  on  a  brew-house  in  that 
capital  without  having  regularly  served  five  years  of 
an  apprenticeship,  and  three  years  as  a  foreman.  A 
deputation  of  the  corporation  examined  the  ingredients 
used  in  brewing,  to  prevent  the  use  of  any  noxious 
or  deleterious  ingredient.  Barm  was  not  permitted  for 
sale  without  inspection ;  and,  for  the  prevention  of  filth, 
no  oxen  or  other  animals  were  allowed  to  be  kept 
or  fed  within  the  range  of  the  brewery  -  grounds. 
"Formerly  each  brewer  could  have  only  one  pan  or 
mash  kieve,  per  day,  containing  fifteen  septiers  of 
malt.  These  members  of  the  corporation,  annually 
elected,  are  obliged  to  inspect  the  breweries,  all  of 
which  they  may  visit  whenever  they  please."* 

In  the  Netherlands  the  brewing  of  ale  and  beer  was 
early  practiced.  In  the  thirteenth  century  Isaac  and 
John  Holiandus  discussed  the  subject  with  striking 
ability,  treating  of  distillation  as  well  as  fermentation. 
Delft  was  famous  for  its  beer,  and  the  liquor  was,  for 
many  years,  the  leading  staple  of  that  port.  At  other 
places,  Gouda  and  Muyden,  for  instance,  London  porter 
has  been  imitated  with  success. 


*  Morowood's   Essay,   p.   213. 


38 


In  Russia  ale  and  beer  are  of  universal  acceptance. 
The  beer  of  Riga  is  of  a  superior  order,  and  the  ale 
of  Okka,  in  Nishney  Novogorod,  is  said  to  partake  of 
the  character  of  Burton,  both  in  quality  and  flavor. 
Quass  and  Braga  are  in  common  use.  The  Quass, 
which  is  the  ordinary  household  beverage,  is  made  of 
barley  malt,  and  small  proportions  of  rye  malt-  and .  un 
bolted  rye  meal,  sometimes  varied  by  adding  raisins  to 
make  it  foam,  a  piece  of  rye  bread  to  acidulate  it,  or 
different  fruits  to  give  it  color.  In  all  the  modes  of 
making  it  cold  or  tepid  water  is  poured  on  the  in 
gredients,  the  pans  greased  and  set  in  a  hot  oven. 
Kisslysclitscliy  is  the  name  of  a  kind  of  Quas8,  made 
from  rye  meal  and  boiling  water,  violently  stirred. 
Cold  water  is  added,  and,  after  fermentation,  it  is 
bottled.  It  is  said  to  be  a  fine  drink,  foamy,  effer 
vescent,  sparkling  like  selzer  water,  and  bearing  a  re 
semblance  to  the  Hornerbier  of  Vienna.  Braga  is  a 
thick  white  liquor,  vinous  in  flavor,  heady,  and  drank 
by  "  the  common  people."  It  is  made  of  oat  meal, 
or  wheat  and  hops,  and  is  pleasant  when  fresh.  Birch 
wine  is  the  staple  home  made  drink  in  Norway  ;  but 
a  considerable  quantity  of  ale  is  imported,  and  is  a 
feature  at  wedding,  baptismal  and  other  festive  occa 
sions.  The  Swedes  are  much  addicted  to  strong  drinks; 
but  beer  is  a  common  beverage  with  the  people.  The 
Finns  and  Laplanders  beguile  the  severity  and  gloom 
of  their  climate  by  indulging  in  potent  draughts.  They 
deem  life  joyless  without  beer  and  brandy,  unfortunately 
the  latter  largely  taking  the  place  of  the  ale  and 
mead,  which  was  the  favorite  potations  of  Odin  and 
their  ancient  gods.  In  Tartary  a  fermentation  of  mares' 
milk,  called  Koumiss,  is  the  great  beverage;  but  the 
various  tribes  have  also  varieties  of  beer — as  the  Kal- 


mucks  their  brown  beer,  -Schwa,  and  the  Usbecks  their 
Braya  and  Busa,  made  of  rice  or  millet. 

In  China  they  make  a  liquor  of  malted  wheat  and 
barley,  called  Tarasum.  The  Mexicans  make  beer 
from  Indian  corn;  the  Japanese  their  Saki  (beer)  from 
rice  ;  the  Nubians  and  Abyssinians  a  like  beverage, 
called  Sysior  and  Durrah,  from  barley  and  wheat ;  the 
former  also  their  Bouza,  from  roasted  barley.  The 
Caffres  and  Tombookies  their  Pomlie,  from  millet  or 
guinea  corn  ;  the  Guyanese  their  Piworree,  from  the 
cassava;  and  the  Egyptians  and  Arabians  their  Carmi 
or  Kunni.  The  Chica,  or  maize  beer  of  South  America, 
is  of  very  remote  date,  and  is  in  universal  demand. 
"  The  liquor  is  of  a  dark  yellow  color,  and  has  an 
agreeable,  slightly  bitter,  acid  taste."* 

The  most  highly  prized  Chica  is  made  in  the  Valleys 
of  the  Sierra,  and,  in  that  very  interesting  work,  the 
Chemistry  of  Common  Life,  we  have  an  account  of  its 
manufacture.  All  the  members  of  the  family,  inclu 
ding  such  strangers  as  choose  to  assist  in  the  operation, 
seat  themselves  on  the  floor,  in  a  circle,  in  the  centre 
of  which  is  a  large  calabash,  surrounded  by  a  heap 
of  dried  maize  (malt.)  Each  person  takes  up  a  hand 
ful  and  thoroughly  chews  it.  This  is  deposited  in 
the  calabash,  and  another  handful  is  immediately  sub 
jected  to  the  same  process,  the  jaws  of  the  company 
being  kept  continually  busy  until  the  whole  heap  of 
corn  is  reduced  to  a  mass  of  pulp.  This,  with  some 
minor  ingredients,  is  mashed  in  hot  water,  and  the 
liquid  poureci  into  jars,  where  it  is  teft  to  ferment. 
In  a  short  time  it  is  ready  for  use.  Occasionally, 


*  Von  Tchudi.     Travels  in  Peru. 


40 


however,  the  jars  are  buried  in  the  ground,  and 
allowed  to  remain  there  until  the  liquor  acquires, 
from  age,  a  considerable  strength,  and  powerfully 
intoxicating  qualities.  Thus  prepared,  it  is  called  Chica 
Mascada,  or  chewed  Chica,  and  the  Serrano  believes 
he  cannot  offer  his  guest  a  greater  luxury  than  a 
draught  of  old  Chica  Mascada,  the  ingredients  of  which 
have  been  ground  between  his  own  teeth.*  The 
Piworree  of  Guyana  is  produced  by  a  similar  process. 
In  Mr.  Ed.  T.  Perkins'  narrative  of  adventures  in 
the  Hawaiian,  Georgian  and  Society  Islands,  entitled 
Na  Motu ;  or.  Reef  Ravings  in  the  South  /Seas,  there  is  a 
description  given  of  the  making  of  a  beer  from  ava, 
arva,  or  awa,  the  name  given  to  the  root  of  the  long 
pepper  shrub  (macropiper  methysticum.^  It  was  also  a 
cheived  beverage,  but  the  mastication  was  performed 
by  the  "  beautiful  white-teethed  girls  of  Lahaina." 
Johnston  speaks  of  it  in  his  work  (page  255-6),  and 
quotes  an  interesting  passage  from  Wi Ikes'  U.  S.  Ex 
ploring  Expedition,  but  he  evidently  had  not  seen  the 
capital  account  of  Mr.  Perkins.  The  chewing  code 
suggested  to  Tom  Hood  a  happy  figure,  when  he  said 
that  he  did  not  hash  certain  opinions 

"In   my  books, 

And  thus  upon  the  public  mind   intrude  it, 
As  if  I   thought,   like   Otahitian  cooks, 
No   food  was  fit  to   eat  till   I   had   chewed  it." 

It  thus  appears,  by  the  rapid  glance  we  have  been 
enabled  to  give  over  the  ancient  and  modern  world,  that 
ale  or  beer  in  %ome  form  was  and  is  almost  universally 


*  Chemistry    of   Common    Life.       By  James  P.    W.   Johnston,   M.   A., 
P.   R.   S.,   &c.     Vol.   i.,   p.   248. 


/ 


11 


recognized  as  a  healthful  and  invigorating  beverage. 
The  progenitors  of  this  Republic,  in  the  British  Isles 
and  in  Ireland,  seem  to  have  relished  the  strengthen 
ing  liquid  quite  as  much  as  % those  Scandinavians  who 
helped  to  teach  them  its  use,  in  the  belief  that 
"  large  and  frequent  draughts  of  it  was  one  of  the 
greatest  pleasures  enjoyed  by  the  heroes  admitted 
into  the  halls  of  Odin.*  Kingsley's  group  in  Waterford, 
Ireland,  in  the  eleventh  century,  disposed  around  a  local 
king,  Ranald,  and  all  drinking  ale  which  a  servant 
poured  out  of  a  bucket  into  a  great  bull's  horn,  and 
the  men  handed  round  to  each  otherf  is  not  over 
drawn.  In  England  ale  became  a  sort  of  pivot  on 
and  around  which  many  of  the  customs,  social,  chari 
table,  religious  and  political,  revolved.  Sometimes 
meetings  were  held  for  the  sole  purpose  of  drinking 
ale  for  the  love  of  it,  and  these  were  Scot-ales.  One 
form  of  these  frolics  were  called  a  give-ale,  and  was 
a  remnant  of  an  Anglo  Saxon  superstition.  Sometimes 
these  meeting  were  held  in  taverns,  and  sometimes  in 
churches  or  churchyards.  When  held  in  the  public 
houses  the  clergy  were,  not  allowed  to  be  present. 
Other  drinkings  were  termed  leet-ale,  clerk-ale,  church- 
ale  and  bride- ale ;  the  last  of  which,  says  the  "  Ency 
clopedia  Brittanica,"  still  prevails  in  Scotland,  under 
the  name  of  a  penny  bride-ale — a  practice  intended 
to  assist  those  who  are  unable  to  defray  the  expense 
of  a  wedding  dinner.  While  writing  on  this  subject, 
Barry  Gray  put  into  my  hand  a  brief  article  on 
England's  national  drink,  reproduced  in  a  current  pub- 


*  Maillot's  Northern  Antiquities, 
f  Hereward,  p.   64. 


42 


lication,  from  an  English  source,  a  portion  of  which 
illustrates  the  adoption  of  the  word  ale  into  the  En 
glish  language  as  an  equivalent  for  festivity,  in  con 
nection  with  other  words.  "Thus,"  says  the  writer, 
"bride-ale  (bridal)  is  the  feast  in  honor  of  the  bride, 
or  marriage ;  similarly  we  have  leet-ale,  lamb-ale, 
Whitsun-ale.  .  A  bid-ale  was  when  a  poor  man, 
decayed  in  his  substance,  was  set  up  again  by  the 
contributions  of  his  friends  at  a  Sunday's  feast. 
Church-ales,  as  they  are  described  by  Pierce,  bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells,  in  his  answer  to  the  inquiries  of 
Archbishop  Laud,  "  are  when  the  people  go  from 
afternoon  prayers  on  Sunday  to  their  lawful  sports 
and  pastimes  in  the  churchyard,  or  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  or  in  some  public  house  where  they  drink  and 
make  merry.  By  the  benevolence  of  the  people  at 
these  pastimes,  many  poor  parishes  have  cast  their 
bells  and  beautified  their  churches,  and  raised  stock 
for  the  poor." 

Alack  for  the  progress  of  civilization !  What  would 
be  thought  of  a  Christian  bishop  now-a-days — Arch 
bishop  McCloskey  or  Bishop  Potter,  for  instance,  look 
ing  with  a  kindly  eye  on  his  flock  adjourning  from 
"afternoon  prayers  on  Sunday"  to  their  sports  in  the 
churchyard,  or  pastimes  in  the  public  house,  to  "  drink 
and  be  merry,"  while  they  took  care  of  the  poor,  and 
raised  money  to  beautify  the  church  ?  In  this  especial 
connection,  William  Howitt's  remarks  on  the  glory 
and  departure  of  one  of  these  old  customs  is  in  place. 

"  The  Love  feasts  of  the  primitive  Christians  degene 
rated,  in  England,  into  what  are  called  Whitsun-ales, 
so  called  from  the  church-wardens  buying  and  laying 
in,  from  presents  also,  a  large  quantity  of  malt,  which 
they  brewed  into  beer,  and  sold  out  in  the  church  or 


elsewhere.  The  profits,  as  well  as  those  from  Sunday 
games — there  being  no  poor  rates — were  given  to -the 
poor,  for  whom  this  was  one  mode  of  provision,  ac 
cording  to  the  Christian  rule,  that  all  festivities  should 
be  rendered  innocent  by  alms.  '  In  every  parish, 
says  Aubrey,  '  was  a  church-house,  to  which  belonged 
spits,  crocks,  and  other  utensils  for  dressing  provisions. 
Here  the  housekeepers  met.  The  young  people  were 
there  too,  and  had  dancing,  bowling,  shooting  at  butts, 
&c.'  The  merriment  degenerated  into  license:  Puritan 
ism  put  it  down ;  but  the  love-feasts  revived  again,  in 
the  celebration  of  the  annual  meetings  and  processions 
of  the  friendly  societies  or  clubs,  and  Whitsuntide  be 
came  the  greatest  and  most  jocund  of  all  village  festi 
vals,  excepting  only  the  wake."  * 

But  since  then  dark  days  have  intervened,  and 
snatched  away  many  a  fair  attribute  from  this  genuine 
holiday  of  the  people.  Easter  was  the  great  holiday 
of  the  Church ;  Mayday  was  the  holiday  of  the  poets ; 
but  Whitsuntide  was  the  holiday  of  the  people.  It 
was  the  village  festival ;  the  village  love-feast ;  the  holi 
day  when  Nature  and  all  her  sunshine  seemed  to  come 
out  and  rejoice  with  man.  It  was  the  festival  when 
the  old  feasted  and  sang  their  old  songs,  and  the 
young  danced  and  were  happy.  But,  first  came  sage 
Prudence,  and  said  the  times  were  hard ;  it  were  bet 
ter  to  give  up  these  ribbons,  they  would  furnish  re 
lief  to  a  sick  member  for  months,  and  it  ivas  prudent, 
and  it  was  done.  The  next  year  Prudence  came  again, 
and  brought  Temperance  with  her,  and  said  the  times 
were  still  worse,  and  Union  workhouses  were  building, 
and  all  who  asked  parish  relief  must  go  there;  and, 
therefore,  it  was  prudent  to  husband  both  health  and 
the  club-fund.  So  they  advised  them  to  give  up  their 


44 


dinners  and  ale.  But,  without  dinners,  ale,  or  ribbons, 
how.  were  the  poor  souls  to  walk  in  procession,  and 
be  'merry?'  Nobody  was  merry."  To  cap  the  climax, 
adds  Howitt,  next  came  a  new  parson  with  a  new 
text :  "  He  that  provideth  not  for  his  family  is  worse 
than  an  infidel."  This  knocked  all  the  wind  out  of 
them.  There  was  not  a  man  among  them  that  could 
provide  for  his  family  at  7s.  a  week,  and  the  corn- 
law  price  of  bread;  so  the  poor  fellows  set  themselves 
down  for  a  worthless  set  of  infidels,  and  sneaked  away 
from  church." 

Truly  the  times  had  changed  since  Bacon's  days, 
when,  as  he  tells  us,  "to  brew  ale  and  press  cider" 
were  among  the  main  occupations  of  every  English 
shire;  yea,  changed  very  much  since  the  days  of  the 
great  civil  war,  when  General  Monk,  having  made  his 
coup  d'etat  and  marched  to  Westminster,  the  park  was 
crowded  with  gazers,  who  turned  the  serious  occasion 
into  an  excuse  for  a  little  mumming  and  masking  ; 
of  which  "pleasantries"  one  was  that  "  Theophila  Turner 
ran  a  race  against  Mrs.  Pepys  and  '  another  poor 
woman'  for  a  'pot  of  ale.'"* 

At  present  Germany,  after  England,  produces  and 
consumes  the  largest  quantity  of  beer.  In  former  times 
it  was  brewed  from  barley,  oats  and  wheat,  with  an 
infusion  of  oak  bark  to  make  it  pungent.  The  intro 
duction  of  hops  laid  the  foundation  for  lager  bier,  the 
prefix  lager  meaning  a  store,  warehouse,  or  stillion  for 
the  support  of  barrels,  and  thus  conveying  the  idea 
that  the  beer  so  named  was  left  to  rest  warehoused 
for  some  time  before  it  was  opened  for  sale — that  it 
was,  in  fact,  stock  or  store  beer. 

*  Fairfax  Correspondence. 


45 


There  are  various  kinds  of  beer  produced  in  Ger 
many,  but  the  principal  breweries  are  those  of  Bava 
ria.  They  have  the  best  reputation,  and  their  vats 
furnish  a  large  proportion  of  that  drank  in  Germany. 
A  paper  on  German  beer,  in  the  Tribune,  a  few  years 
ago,  gave  some  facts  of  interest, — among  others,  the 
names  of  the  various  kinds  of  beer  brewed  in  the 
north  of  Germany.  The  most  nota"ble  is  the  Koesbritz 
double  beer,  which  resembles  the  famous  London  pale 
ale ;  Broyliahn,  or  white  beer  of  Berlin, — -the  beer  of 
Cassel ;  Mumme,  a  Brunswick  beer,  first  made  in  1492, 
by  Ch.  Mumme,  formerly  exported  even  to  the  East 
Indies.  It  is  dark  brown,  thick,  strong,  sweet  in  taste, 
and  is  made  from  wheat,  barley  malt,  hops,  molasses, 
juniper  berries,  dried  prunes,  and  several  aromatic 
herbs.  The  denominations  or  "brands"  of  the  beer 
made  in  the  different  German  provinces  are,  in  some 
instances,  curious  and  suggestive.  That  made  in  Bait- 
zenburg,  Prussia,  is  called  Bind  den  Kerl  (the  fine  fel 
low),  the  beer  of  Brandenburg,  Alter  Claus  (Old  Nick), 
the  beer  of  Jena,  Dorfteufel  (Village  Devil),  the  beer 
of  Kyritz,  Aford  und  Lodtschlag  (murder  and  man 
slaughter),  the  beer  of  Wernigrode,  Lumpen  (rascals' 
beer),  the  beer  of  Wittenburg,  Kuckniclc  (Cuckoo),  the 
the  beer  of  Lubeck,  Isrcbl,  and  so  forth. 

Having  given  a  general  glance  at  the  history  of  ale 
and  its  ancient  and  extended  use,  we  will  spring  a 
few  centuries  backward,  and  look  at  the  introduction 
and  progress  of  that  now  widely  recognized  ingredient 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  healthful  beverage — hops. 

Hops,  used  for  centuries  in  Flanders,  were  promi 
nently  introduced  into  England  about  the  year  1524. 
The  exact  date  of  its  introduction  is  by  no  means  well 
authenticated,  as  the  plant  was  known  many  years 


46 


before  that  era  referred  to  in  the  couplets  upon  which  the 
record   is  now  mainly  based.     One  says  : 

"  Hops,   reformation,  bays   and  beer, 
Came  into  England   all  in    one   year." 

And  the   other, 

"Turkeys,   carps,   hops,   piccarel   and  beer, 
Came  into  England  all  in   one  year." 

Previous  to  the  use  of  hops,  ground  ivy  (glechoma 
hederaced)  was  in  general  use  for  preserving  the  liquor. 
It  is  said  by  some  authorities  that  it  was  after  the 
use  of  hops  that  the  name  beer  was  given  the  drink, 
"to  distinguish  it  from  the  ancient  and  softer  malt 
liquor  called  ale."  But  beer,  as  a  malt  beverage,  was 
known  long  before.  It  was  agreed  by  several  writers, 
consulted  on  the  subject,  that  the  name  beer  is  com 
paratively  modern  to  that  of  ale,  yet  it  was  certainly 
a  received  denomination  of  a  more  lasting  and  strong 
form  of  beverage,  almost  a  century  before  the  date 
usually  received  as  that  given  for  the  use  of  hops.  The 
paper  previously  quoted  on  the  old  ale  customs  supplies 
us  with  some  interesting  references  on  this  point,  which 
are  incorporated. 

To  place  the  name  of  beer  subsequent  to  or  coeval 
with  1524,  is  undoubtedly  erroneous,  for  we  read  in  the 
Promptorium  Parvulorum,  compiled  in  1440,  and  which 
throws  so  much  light  upon  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  England  of  the  middle  ages,  "  Hoppe  Seede  for 
beyre."  An  ancient  municipal  record,  under  date  1432, 
has  this  entry  :  "  Item,  payd  to  Davy,  bere  brewer,  for 
pyp  of  bere  that  was  dronck  at  the  Barrgeate  when 
the  furst  affray  was  of  the  Ffrenshemen,  vjs.  viijd;" 
and  again,  under  the  date  1497  :  "  Half  a  barrel  of  doble 
bere,  xxc?.  Ten  gallons  peny  ale,  xc£."  We  seem  here 


47 


to  get  an  inkling  that  the  hieroglyphic  x,  xx,  xxx, 
still  in  use  by  the  London  brewers,  may  possibly  have 
originated  in  the  practice  of  writing  the  price  of  the 
ale  in  Roman  numerals,  when  a  certain  measure  of  the 
three  qualities  in  vogue  bore  the  respective  prices  of 
x,  xx,  and  xxx  pence.  Finally,  it  is  certain  that  hops 
were  cultivated  in  England  in  1463,  since  there  is 
extant  a  lease  of  lands,  in  Kent,  of  that  date,  in 
which  a  provision  occurs  for  taking  care  of  the  under 
wood  fit  for  hop-poles.  Whether  hops  were  in  use 
in  England  in  the  time  of  Chaucer  is  an  open 
question.  The  word  beer  does  not  occur  in  his 
writings,  yet  it  would  appear  that  London  ale  already 
possessed  a  character  of  its  own,  by  which  it  could 
be  distinguished  by  connoisseurs;  for,  in  the  "Canter 
bury  Tales,"  written  about  1395,  we  read  of  "the 
Coke:" 

"  Wei  coude  ho  knowo  a  draught  of  London  ale." 

7*7(6   Prologue. 

Again,    the   Miller,    in  his   prologue,    says : 

"And,   therefore,   if  that  I  mispeko  or  say, 
Wit  it  the  ale  of  Southwark  I  you  pray." 

With  reference  to  this  discussion,  we  think  it  may 
fairly  be  said,  that  it  is  one  of  those  cases  in  which 
it  would  not  be  wise  to  rely  too  much  upon  negative 
evidence.  It  must  be  remembered  that  we  know 
nothing  of  the  ingredients  employed  for  flavoring  the 
spiced  ale  mentioned,  as  being  rated  at  half  the  value 
of  mead  and  double  the  value  of  common  ale;  and, 
considering  that  the  hop  is  an  indigenous  plant,  it  is 
not  impossible  that  it  may  have  entered,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  alehoof,  or  ground-ivy  (which  we  know  to 


48 


have  been  used  for  ale)  and  other  herbs,  into  the 
composition  in  question.  However  this  may  be,  there 
is  much  evidence  which  seems  to  point  to  a  great 
increase  in  the  use  of  hops  in  brewing  during  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  that,  like  most  new  things, 
whether  improvements  or  otherwise,  the  innovation  en 
countered  violent  opposition.  Thus,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI,  Parliament  was  petitioned  against  that 
wicked  weed  called  hops ;  and  in  the  nineteenth  year 
of  Henry  VIII  (1528)  their  antagonists  succeeded  in 
getting  their  use  prohibited  under  severe  penalties ; 
and  an  ale-man,  having  brought  an  action  against 
his  brewer  for  spoiling  his  ale  by  putting  in  a  certain 
weed,  called  a  hop,  recovered  damages.  The  king 
had  probably  been  gained  over  by  the  opposition  ;  at 
any  rate,  he  appears  to  have  been  a  victim  to  these 
prejudices;  for,  in  1530,  he  gives  an  injunction  to  his 
brewer  not  to  put  any  hops  or  brimstone  into  the  ale. 
This  crusade  against  hops  seems  not  long  to  have 
survived  the  king.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  VI,  in 
the  year  1552,  the  term  hop-grounds  made  its  appear 
ance  for  the  first  time  in  English  law ;  and,  a  few 
years  later,  the  merits  of  hops  were  so  well  appreci 
ated  that  Reynold  Scot  says:  "If  your  ale  may  endure 
a  fortnight,  your  beere,  through  the  benefit  of  the 
hoppe,  shall  continue  a  month,  and  what  grace  it 
yieldeth  to  the  taste  all  men  may  judge  who  have 
sense  in  their  mouths. 

At  all  events,  the  hop,  or  rather  its  use  in  this 
especial  direction,  immediately  commanded  attention  in 
England,  and  the  peculiarities  of  its  culture  and 
nature  are  recorded  by  Tusser  and  Gerard.  In  the 
"  Hondred  Good  Points  of  Husbandrie"  of  the  former, 
published  1537,  he  gives  directions  for  the  cultivation 


of  a  hop  garden,  and   gives  his   reason   for  so   favoring 
the   theme   thus  : 

"The  hop  for  his  profit  I   thus  do  exalt, 
It   strengtheneth   drink,   and   it  favoureth   malt, 
And  being  well   brewed,  long  kept  it  will  last, 
And  drawing  abide— if  ye  draw  not  too  fast." 

Gerard,  writing  in  1596,  says,  "  The  manifold  virtues 
in  hops  do  manifestly  •  argue  the  holesomeness  of  beere 
above  ale,  for  the  hops  rather  make  it  a  physical 
drink,  to  keep  the  body  in  health,  than  an  ordinary 
drink  for  the  quenching  of  our  thirste." 

The  hop  originally  was  the  object  of  much  preju 
dice,  but  under  the  test  of  experience  and  chemical 
science,  it  is  proved  to  be  possessed  of  several  recom 
mendatory  principles,  it  being  nutritive,  tonic,  aromatic. 
Other  common  vegetable  productions  will  give  the 
bitter  flavor  to  malt  liquor.  Ilorehound,  and  worm 
wood,  and  gentian,  and  quassia,  and  strychnia,  and 
the  grains  of  paradise,  and  chicory,  and  various  other 
plants,  have  been  used  to  replace  or  supplant  the  hop ; 
but  none  are  known  to  approach  it  in  imparting  those 
peculiar  qualities  which  have  given  the  bitter  beer  of 
the  present  day  so  well  merited  a  reputation.* 

"  In  1850  the  quantity  of  hops  grown  in  England  was 
21,668  tons,  paying  a  duty  of  £270,000.  This  is 
supposed  to  be  a  larger  quantity  than  is  grown  in 
all  the  world  besides.  Only  98  tons  were  exported 
in  that  year;  while,  on  the  other  band,  320  tons 
were  imported,  so  that  the  home  consumption  amount 
ed  to  21,886,  or  forty  millions  of  pounds,  being  more 
than  the  weight  of  the  tobacco  we  yearly  consume. 


Vide  Blackwood,   Aug.,    1853. 
7 


50 


It  is  the  narcotic  substance,  therefore,  of  which  Eng 
land  not  only  grows  more  and  consumes  more 
than  all  the  world  besides,  but  of  which  Englishmen 
consume  more  than  they  do  of  any  other  substance 
of  the  same  kind."  This,  from  a  writer  in  Black- 
wood's  Magazine,  gives  not  only  a  key  to  the  statisti 
cal,  but  also  to  the  sanitary  importance  of  malt 
beverages  in  England. 

English'  writers  have  completely  adopted  the  hop, 
calling  it  "  The  English  narcotic,"  and  extolling 
not  only  its  inside  virtues  but  its  exterior  picturesque- 
ness,  and  justly.  They  boast  of  their  hop  lands  and 
the  landscape  beauties  of  their  hop  vines.  "Waving 
and  drooping,"  says  the  English  writer  before  quoted, 
"  in  easy  motion  with  every  tiny  breath  that  stirs 
them,  and  hanging  in  curved  wreaths  from  pole  to 
pole,  the  hop-vines  dance  and  glitter  beneath  the  bright 
English  sun — the  picture  of  a  true  English  vineyard, 
which  neither  the  Ehine  nor  the  Rhone  can  equal, 
and  only  Italy,  where  her  vines  climb  the  freest,  can 
surpass."  The  traveller  through  the  hop-vineyards  of 
Otsego,  Madison,  Oneida,  Herkimer,  Jefferson,  Onon- 
daga,  or  other  counties  of  the  State  of  New  York,  will 
find,  if  not  more,  certainly  not  less  reason  for  en 
thusiasm  than  in  the  fields  of  Kent  and  Surrey. 

And  this  fact  naturally  brings  us  to  the  importance, 
both  in  a  commercial,  agricultural  and  hygienic  aspect, 
of  malt  liquors  in  America, — an  importance  which  is 
exceedingly  and  peculiarly  interesting  to  our  own 
State  of  New  York. 

Of  all  the  States  in  the  Union,  New  York  has  the 
greatest  and  most  vital  interest  in  the  question  of  malt 
liquors,  and  in  the  dissemination  of  honest  facts  relating 
thereto.  Next  after  England  and  Germany  in  the  de- 


9r 


votion  of  its  agricultural  interests  to  the  growth  of 
those  ingredients  from  which  malt  liquors  are  produced, 
and  alike  next  to  them  in  the  consumption  of  those 
beverages,  it  is  not  to  be  marveled  at  that  this  es 
pecial  branch  of  the  liquor  business  should  inspire  the 
most  anxious  solicitude,  and  go  far  in  creating  that 
opposition  to  reckless  and  wholesale  legislation  which 
arises  from  those  very  natural  sensations  of  self-pro 
tection  which  inspire  all  when  the  purse  is  menaced. 

The  manufacture  of  malt  liquors  is  a  very  extensive 
business  in  the  State,  and  the  investments  in  hop  grow 
ing  are  commensurately  large.  The  immense  increase 
of  late  years  is  evidently  the  result  of  the  nutritious 
character  attributed  to  the  hop  by  medical  writers, 
and  the  steadily  increasing  and  sensible  desire  to  im 
bibe  malt,  in  the  place  of  more  intoxicating  beverages. 

That  New  York  has  a  deeper  and  more  extended 
interest  than  perhaps  all  the  States  of  the  Union  com 
bined  in  this  healthful  reform,  will  be  seen  from  the 
returns  of  the  Census  for  1850,  and  also  for  1860. 
A  review  of  the  agricultural  statistics  for  the  former, 
informs  us  that  a  gratifying  increase  has  taken  place 
in  the  culture '  of  this  useful  article— the  hop.  The 
gain  has  nearly  been  two  hundred  per  cent.  The  re 
port  proceeds  to  state,  that  "almost  the  whole  of  the 
increment,  however,  has  been  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
which,  from  less  than  half  a  million  of  pounds  in  1840, 
now  produces  more  than  two  and  a  half  millions,  which 
exceeds  five  sevenths  of  the  entire  crop  of  the  United 
States* 

In  connection  with  this  circumstance,  continues  the 
commissioner,  "it  may  be  mentioned  that  New  York 

*    Tide  Report  on   the  Census,    1850. 


« 


52 


stands  foremost  in  the  production  of  beer,  ale  and  por 
ter,  in  the  manufacture  of  which  the  larger  part  of 
the  hops  raised  is  consumed.  The  brewers  of  this  State 
produced  645,000  barrels  of  ale,  &c.,  in  1850,  being 
being  more  than  a  -third  of  the  quantity  required  for 
the  whole  Union." 

The  following  table,  showing  the  state  of  hop  culture 
in  the  principal  hop  growing  States,  with  the  increase 
and  decrease  in  ten  years,  will  convey  a  truth  to  our 
New  York  legislators,  farmers  and  temperance  lectures, 
certainly  not  less  significant  than  instructive. 

According   to   the   official   returns   for 

1840)          The  hop  crop  of  the  entire          (1,238,502 
1850  f  Union  was,  in  pounds,  (  3,497,029 

Increase  for  the  whole  Union 2,258,527 


STATES.  1840. 

New  York 447,250  Ibs. 

Massachusetts 254,795  " 

New  Hampshire . .  243,425  " 

Ohio 62,195  " 

Pennsylvania. ....  49,481  " 

Vermont 48,137  " 

Indiana 38,591  " 


1850. 
.   2, 536, 299  Ibs.— Increase  2,089,049  Ibs. 


121,195  " 

257,174  " 

63,731  " 

22,088  " 

288,023   " 

92,796  " 


Decrease  133,600  " 

Increase     13,749  " 

1,536  " 

Decrease    27.393  " 

Increase  239,886  " 

54,205   " 


Thus,  comparing  the  increase  of  the  hop  crop  in  the 
entire  Union  for  ten  years,  with  that  of  the  State  of 
New  York  in  the  same  period,  it  will  be  seen  that; 
there  are  but  169,478  pounds  increase  in  all  the  re 
maining  States,  this  being  chiefly  made  in  Vermont  and 
Indiana, — the  former  having  made,  of  itself,  over  one 
third  in  addition,  and  which  more  than  overbalances, 
in  the  aggregate,  the  large  decrease  in  Massachusetts 
and  Pennsylvania. 

A  glance  at  the  Agricultural  Report  of  the  Census 
for  1860,  still  further  expands  the  interest  of  New 


tl 

r 


53 


York,  and  shows  her  preponderating  progress.  The 
total  hop  crop  of  1860,  for  the  States  and  Territories, 
was  10,991,996  pounds  —  three  times  what  it  was  ten 
years  previous.  New  York  more  than  keeps  pace  with 
the  relative  increase.  Of  this  total,  in  I860,  she  pro 
duced  9,671,931  pounds  — seven  eighths  of  the  whole  — 
Vermont  yielding  about  one  half  of  the  remainder,  or 
638,677  pounds.  It  will  be  seen  by  the  Table  of  Brew 
ing,  hereafter  given,  that  New  York  must  have  ex 
ported  large  quantities  of  hops  'to  other  States, — as  States 
like  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Missouri,  New  Jersey, 
Massachusetts  and  Wisconsin,  which  brewed  a  consider 
able  amount  of  ale  or  beer,  grew  very  little  hops.  The 
Superintendent  of  the  E-aport  says,  "  In  this  coun 
try,  as  in  England,  the  cultivation  of  hops  is  confined 
to  a  comparatively  small  area.  New  York  raises  over 
eight  tenths  of  all  the  hops  produced  in  the  United 
States ;  and  in  this  State  the  bulk  of  the  crop  is 
raised  in  a  few  counties.  The  County  of  Otsego  pro 
duces  3,507,069  pounds  ;  Madison,  1,520,657  pounds ; 
Schoharie,  1,441.648  pounds;  Oneida,  833,460  pounds ; 
Herkimer,  707,910  pounds  ;  Montgomery,  515,584 
pounds."* 

The  growth  of  barley  in  New  York  is"  not  less  im 
portant  than  hops — and  as  they  are  grown  for,  and  go 
together  in  the  manufacture  of  malt  liquor,  the  statis 
tics  of  the  former  will  not  be  without  their  instruc- 
tiveness.  In  1840  the  entire  crop  of  the  Union 
amounted  to  4,161,504  bushels,  of  which  the  State  of 


*  Agriculture  of  the  United  States  in  1860 ;  Compiled  from  the  Origi 
nal  Returns  of  the  Eighth  Census,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Interior.  By  Joseph  G.  C.  Kennedy,  Superintendent  of 
Census.  Washington  Government  Printing  Office,  1864. 


New  York  furnished  2,520,068— more  than  three  fifths 
of  the  amount — the  remaining  1,641,436  bushels  being 
chiefly  divided  between  Maine,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts,  Michigan  and  New  Hampshire,  in  the 
order  given.  In  1850  the  entire  crop  was  5,167,015, 
showing  an  increase  of  995,511  bushels.  In  the  same 
year  the  returns  of  New  York  were  3,585,059,  exhibit 
ing,  in  our  State,  an  increase  of  1,064,991  bushels, — 
much  more  than  overbalancing,  in  the  aggregate,  a  large 
decrease  in  Maine,  Massachusetts  and  Vermont. 

The  aggregate  barley  crop  of  1860  in  the  States 
and  Territories,  was  15,825,898  bushels  ;  of  which 
New  York  raised  4,186,668  bushels. 

On  the  subject  under  notice  the  Report  presents  the 
following  remarks  and  figures  :  "  The  manufacture  of 
Malt  Liquors,  though  of  less  magnitude,  and  far  less 
pernicious  in  its  effects,  shows  a  still  larger  increase. 
It  derives  its  material  wholly  from  agriculture,  and 
its  extension  promises  more  substantial  benefits  to  the 
country  than  the  last  (spirituous  liquors.) 

"  The  Northern  States  returned  969  breweries,  or 
more  than  double  the  number  in  the  Union  in  1850. 
The  quantity  of  all  kinds  of  Malt  Liquors  made,  in 
cluding  855,803  barrels  of  lager  bier,  was  3,235,545 
barrels ;  an  increase  of  175  per  cent,  upon  the  total 
product  of  1850,  while  its  value  was  returned  at 
$17,977,135,  being  more  than  three  times  the  amount 
produced  by  breweries  in  that  year.  Nearly  one  half 
of  the  whole  quantity  was  made  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania.  The  former  had  .175  establishments — 45 
of  them  in  the  city  of  New  York — and  the  latter  State 
172,  of  which  Philadelphia  contained  68.  The  manu 
facture  of  lager  bier  was  much  increased  in  all  the 
middle  and  western  States ;  about  41  per  cent,  of 


v 

w 

Uf 


55 


the  whole  being  the  product  of  the  two  States  last 
named.  Among  the  eastern  States,  Massachusetts,  and 
among  the  western  States,  Ohio,  Illinois  and  Missouri, 
were  the  largest  producers  of  Malt  Liquors.  There 
were  71  breweries  in  California  and  8  in  Oregon,* 
producing  together  about  7  per  cent,  of  the  total  value 
of  the  manufacture. 


Maine 

New"  Hampshire. 
Massachusetts.  . . 
Rhode  Island... 


No.   OF  E 

5 

3 

.  ...      13 
4 


Connecticut 


Total  New  England  States.     31 


New  York 

New  Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Maryland 

District  of  Columbia. 


Total  Middle  States. 


Ohio 

Indiana 


175 
22 

172 
26 
4 

399 

29 
50 


BARRELS. 

7,230 

17,200 

133,600 

6,400 

16,030 

180,460 

990,767 

155,430 

585,206 

44,664 

13,484 

1,789,551 

402,035 
66,338 


903,346 

4,996,151 
865,910 

3,246,681 

242,286 

84,300 

9,435,328 

1,912,419 
328,116 


*  As  these  pages  were  going   through    the    press  we    received  intel 
ligence   of    tho   welcome   given   to  ale    in   Colorado.       In  a  letter  dated 
Central   City,  June,    1866,   Bayard   Taylor    gives    an    appreciative    notice 
of   a  mug  of    ale   amid  the   "thin   air    aud  alkali   water"   of   Colorado, 
and  a  suggestive   glimpse    of  the   wise    brewers  thereof.      He    says  :- 
"Some  friends  took  me  over   the   hill  to   Quartz   Gulch,  the  other  day, 
in    order    to    try  some    mountain-brewed    ale.       After    the    intense    a 
heat  of    the  air   the    beverage    was  very  refreshing,   and    greatly  supe 
rior  in   its  quality   to  the  lager    bier  of  the   mountains.      The  owner  of 
the  brewery   lives  in  a  neat  log  cabin,   the    steps  whereto    are  o 
gold  and  silver,   and  inside  tho    rough   walls    an  accomplished  lady  BI 
down   to  her  piano   and   played  for  us  some  choice  compositions." 


56 


No.  or  ESTAB.  BARRELS.  VALUE. 

Kentucky IT  74,850  219,700 

Illinois 75  218,043  1,309,180 

Michigan 42  ....  57,671  ....  354,758 

Wisconsin 121  124,956  702,812 

Minnesota 24  14,080  77,740 

Iowa 39  35,588  221,495 

Missouri 55  172,570  1,143,450 

Kansas 4  ....  5,100  ....  52,800 

Nebraska 2  2,200  16,4t)0 

Utah 2  ....  145  ....  4,200 

Total  Western  States 460  1,173,576  :...  6,343,070 

California 71  ....  87,806  ....  1,211,641 

Oregon 8  4,152  83,750 

Total  Pacific  States 79  91,958  1,295,391 

4,000  24,000 


Aggregate 970     ....      3,239,545     ....     18,001,135 

Thus  may  be  seen  the  energy  and  capital  devoted 
to  the  production  of  hops  and  barley,  and  the  conse 
quent  effect  in  the  health  and  wealth  of  the  Empire 
State ;  and  thus  it  is  that  our  interest  in  the  question 
under  consideration  is  more  vital  than  that  of  any  of  the 
States  to  which  a  "  liquor  law "  has  been  applied.  The 
exhibition  of  these  figures  lessens  the  necessity  for 
argument.  They  are  more  powerful  than  words,  and 
should  be  directed  to  the  proper  channel  for  circula 
tion — put  into  the  hands  of  the  agricultural  districts, 
which  have  been  at  once  the  victims  as  well  of  their 
own  good  intentions  as  of  the  sweeping  charges  and 
intemperate  zeal  of  temperance  lecturers.  The  most 
useful  temperance  lecturer  is  he  who  advocates  the 
temperate  use  of  beverages  which  custom  has  sane- 
tioned7  and  which,  as  it  would  appear,  man  will 


57 


have.  A  reform  may,  and  we  trust  will  be  effected 
in  favor  of  healthful  and  comparatively  mild  drinks; 
but  it  is  more  than  doubtful  if  a  hard  working,  energe 
tic,  and  withal  social  people,  such  as  form  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  the  Republic,  will  or  can  be  induced  to 
give  up  all  drinks  which  custom,  and  the  large  ma 
jority  of  clergymen  and  physicians,  have  sanctioned  as 
refreshing. 

The  Germans  are  characterized  as  a  thrifty,  indus 
trious  people.  They  are  ingenious  and  social,  arid 
well  qualified  in  all  the  arts  which  make  civilization, 
enhance  peace  or  sustain  war.  In  literature,  science, 
art,  music,  they  are  alike  famous.  In  almost  every 
branch  of  learning  and  culture  they  have,  in  modern 
times,  sent  forth  some  of  the  leading  and  representa 
tive  men.  They  are  a  healthy  people,  capable  of 
enduring  great  mental  and  physical  fatigue,  and  afford 
a  striking  and  sensible  commentary  on  the  inutility 
and  injustice  of  thoughtlessly  rigid  liquor  laws.  The 
Germans  drink  frequently,  but  from  the  peculiarity  of 
the  beverage,  receive  only  a  suitable  and  sustaining 
exhilaration  of  mind  and  body — they  do  not  become 
intoxicated.  Beer  is  famous  in  conjunction  with  the 
German  name;  and,  as  an  evidence  of  the  Teuton's  de 
votion  to  it,  its  usefulness  to  the  hard  working  man,  as 
well  as  its  acceptability  to  those  in  more  intelligent 
paths  of  life,  we  will  quote  a  paragraph  from  a  paper 
in  the  Tribune,  already  alluded  to,  which  derives  ad 
ditional  importance  from  the*  position  of  that  journal 
on  the  question  of  temperance  reform: 

"  In  Bavaria  beer  has  become  an  imperative  neces 
sity  to  the  working  classes.  The  hard  working  man 
will  content  himself  with  meat  only,  on  holidays,  pro 
vided  he  can  at  all  times  get  his  usual  quantity  of 


58 


beer.  This  quantity  is  by  no  means  small,  and  we 
do  not  overrate  it  when  we  say  that  a  gallon  per 
diem  is  the  average  allowance  of  a  frugal  beer  drinker. 
Most  of  the  hard  working  mechanics  live  more  on  beer 
and  bread  than  anything  else.  The  government  has 
been  compelled  more  than  once  to  diminish  the .  malt 
tax,  in  order  to  prevent  a  rise  in  the  price  of  beer, 
which  has  always  been  followed  by  serious  riots,  and, 
in  1841,  even  by  a  revolution.  In  Bavaria  beer  is 
drunk  for  and  at  breakfast;  for  and  at  dinner;  takes 
the  place  of  coffee  in  the  afternoon,  and  is  poured 
down  at  supper." 

The  demand  for  cheap  beer,  of  an  agreeable  and 
uniform  character,  led  to  the  formation  of  a  Company, 
on  the  co-operative  principle,  in  London.  We  have 
before  us  a  Eeport,  July,  1853,  of  its  working,  which 
shows  that,  although  but  a  short  time  in  existence, 
a  dividend  of  five  per  cent,  was  available.  A-  much 
larger  dividend  would  have  been  declared,  had  there 
been  capital  to  meet  the  business  which  might  have 
been  done.  Much  had  been  achieved  in  spite  of  the 
want  of  capital  and  the  continual  rise  of  the  price  of 
malt  and  hops.  The  directors  had  kept  the  price  and 
quality  of  the  articles  sold  the  same  as  before.  It 
was  stated  that  highly  influential  members  of  the  medi 
cal  profession  had  recommended  the  ales  and  porter 
brewed  by  the  company  to  their  patients,  as  the  only 
genuine  articles  in  London.  The  Report  goes  on  to  state 
at  length  the  good  effects  which  must  arise,  both  mor 
ally  and  physically,  from  the  ramifications  of  the  com 
pany  being  extended. 

The  healthful  use  of  malt  liquors,  though  admitted 
by  all  eminent  writers  on  dietetics,  is,  in  the  general 
denunciation,  not  at  all  recognized  by  the  advocates 


59 


and  framers  of  "liquor  laws."  These  laws,  as  is 
proved  by  the  comparative  tables  of  police  stations,  are 
not  for  the  benefit  of  the  many,  but  for  the  punish 
ment  of  a  few  —  exhibiting  additional  evidence  of  the 
despotic  character  of  all  sumptuary  enactments. 

From  the  peculiar  qualities  of  the  ingredients  com 
posing  them,  malt  liquors  are  more  strengthening, 
consequently  more  cheering  and  less  intoxicating  than 
any  beverage  in  use.  As  we  sustained  a  few  words 
with  many  facts,  in  speaking  of  the  agricultural  inte 
rests  of  the  State,  so  shall  we  support  the  statement  in 
regard  to  the  healthfulness  and  necessity  of  malt  liquors, 
by  facts  and  experiments  recorded  by  the  ablest  ac 
knowledged  writers.  Dr.  Kitchener,  whose  "Cook's 
Oracle"  was  declared  by  Christopher  North  "a  good,  jovial, 
•loyal  book,"  recommends  ale  or  beer  as  the  most  in 
vigorating  drink,  and  from  its  peculiarly  substantial 
and  nutritive  qualities,  terms  it  "  liquid  bread ; "  and 
the  suggestive  title  seems  not  to  have  been  without 
reason. 

Malt  liquors  differ  from  wines  in  containing  a  greater 
amount  of  nutritive  matter  and  less  of  spirit.  Irre 
spective  of  the  flavor  and  tonic  properties  communi 
cated  by  the  hops,  they  precipitate,  by  means  of  their 
astringent  principle,  the  vegetable  mucilage,  and  thus 
remove  from  beer  the  active  principle  of  its  fermen 
tation  ;  consequently,  without  hops  malt  liquors  would 
have  to  be  drunk  either  new  and  ropy  or  old  and 
sour.* 

Dr.  Jonathan  Pereira,  allowed  even  by  water-cure 
oracles  "as  the  most  approved  author  on  dietetics  as 


*    Vide  Dunglison's  Elements  of  Hygiene,   p.   366. 


well  as  materia  medica,  in  the  allopathic  school,"  says, 
in  his  treatise  on  Food  and  .Diet,  "The  practice  of 
taking  a  moderate  quantity  of  mild  malt  liquor,  of 
sound  quality,  at  dinner,  is,  in  general,  not  only  un 
objectionable  but  beneficial.  Considered  dietetically, 
beer  possesses  a  threefold  property:  it  quenches  thirst; 
it  stimulates,  cheers,  and  if  taken  in  sufficient  quan 
tity,  intoxicates  ;  and  lastly,  it  nourishes  or  strength 
ens."*  He  thus  recommends  its  medicinal  property : — 
"In  the  convalescence,  after  lingering  disease,  it  often 
proves  a  most  valuable  restorative "  (p.  200.)  And 
again— "The  Indian  Pale  Ale,  which  is  manufactured 
for  the  Indies,  is  very  carefully  fermented,  so  as  to 
be  devoid  of  all  sweetness,  or,  in  other  words,  to  be 
dry;  and  it  contains  double  the  usual  quantity  of  hops; 
it  forms,  therefore,  a  most  valuable  restorative  beverage 
for  invalids  and  convalescents."  Dr.  Pereira  thinks, 
we  may  safely  assume,  with  Dr.  Ure  (Dictionary  of 


*  As  it  is  thoroughly  necessary  to  understand  from  what  quarter 
such  advice  comes,  we  give  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Chas.  A  Lee,  in  his 
preface  to  the  American  edition  of  Pereira's  famous  work.  Ho  says, 
"  With  respect  to  the  merits  of  this  treatise  it  is  scarcely  necessary 
for  me  to  speak.  It  fully  meets  a  desideratum  which  modern  discove 
ries,  the  improvements  in  practical  and  experimental  physiology,  and 
especially  the  late  achievements  in  analytic  chemistry,  have  created; 
and  which,  since  the  appearance  of  Liebig's  remarkable  works,  every 
one  must  have  felt  could  not  long  remain  unsupplied.  *  *  *  The 
author,  Mr.  Pereira,  is  well  known  throughout  Europe  and  America 
as  one  of  the  most  learned,  scientific,  and  practical  men  of  the  age— 
a  physician  of  great  experience  and  accurate  observation— a  highly  suc 
cessful  writer,  unsurpassed  in  the  judicious  selection  and  arrangement 
of  facts,  and  in  the  felicity  of  his  illustrations  and  reasoning.  To  the 
medical  profession,  especially,  he  is  universally  and  most  favorably 
known  as  the  author  of  the  best  work  on  the  materia  medica  which  Jjt' 

has   hitherto  appeared  in   our  language."  >.,j 

I^BU 


81 


Arts,  p.  105),  that  "the  amount  of  spirit  in  common 
strong  ale  or  beer  is  about  four  per  cent.,  or  four 
measures  of  spirits,  specific  gravity  0.825,  in  100  mea 
sures  of  the  liquor.  The  best  brown  stout  porter  con 
tains  six  per  cent.,  the  strongest  ale  even  eight  per 
cent.,  but  common  beer  only  one."  Dr.  L.  C.  Beck, 
quoted  in  the  appendix  to  the  American  edition  of 
Pereira,  says  that  Albany  ale,  in  barrels,  contains 
7.38  per  cent.,  and  that  in  bottles  10.67  per  cent, 
spirits.  Dr.  Lse's  experiments  with  ale  resulted  in 
extracting  nine  ounces  of  solid  matter  from  the  gal 
lon — about  8.16  grains  to  the  pint. 

The  nutritive  qualities  of  ale  are  derived  from  the 
component  elements  indicated  as  follows:  By  evapora 
tion  we  obtain  the  soluble  but  fixed  and  nutritive 
constituents  of  beer,  in  the  form  of  an  extract,  which 
consists  of  starch-sugar,  dextrine,  lactic  acid,  different 
salts,  the  extractive  and  aromatic  parts  of  the  hop, 
gluten,  and  fatty  matters.  The  quantity  of  extract 
yielded  by  beer  is  subject  to  considerable  variation. 
It  depends  not  only  on  the  strength  of  the  wort  but 
on  the  length  of  the  fermentation  and  the  age  of  the 
beer.  An  imperial  pint  of  porter  yielded  about  one 
ounce  and  a  half  of  extract — twelve  ounces  to  the 
gallon.* 

The  following  table,  prepared  by  Richardson,  exhibits 
the  density  of  besr: 

Excess  in  Iba.  of  beer  over 
water  by  the  barrel. 

Barton  Ale,  1st  sort 40  to  43 

"  "  2d  "  35  to  40 

"  "  3d  "  28  to  33 

Common  Ale 25  to  57 

"  "  21 

*  Pereira,  p.    199. 


riiiv.^- 

.-:,.:  f?,^  -*«•«• 


•N-,  Jv22^>\5  'S^-o 

«--^  ^ 

t*y> 

teKfe/;3s&+ 

§|©9  /"  \°  -  -  

±|J» 

S^ 

^?F^ 
ySj^ 

62 

; 

\  r* 

i 

Excess  in  Ibs.  of  beer  over 
water  by  the  barrel. 

Porter,  Common  

18 

'•       Double  

20 

Brown  Stout  

23 

Best        "    

26 

Table  Beer  

6 

Good     "     

12  to  14 

With  these  facts,  we  do  not  wonder  that  Dr.  Paris 
considered  that  country  happy  whose  laboring  classes 
preferred  malt  liquors  as  their  beverage.  Experience 
in  England,  Germany  and  America,  has  proved  that  they 
are  the  most  suitable,  because  the  most  cheering  and 
strengthening  beverage  for  the  hard  working  man.* 
It  is  more,  it  is  a  necessity.  The  famous  Dr.  Clarke 
wisely  said,  in  allusion  to  those  beverages  recommend 
ed  by  Scripture  :  *'  Heavy  taxes  on  these  necessaries 
of  life  are  taxes  on  life  itself." 

Ale  has  not  been  overlooked  by  the  poets  and 
dramatists.  "  Sir  John  Barleycorn"  has  been  a  standing 
character  with  them.  He  is  the  Gambrinus  of  our 
race,  and  the  history  of  the  beverage  represented  by 
him  receives  a  great  deal  of  lively  illustration  from 
the  attention  and  writings  of  the  poets  and  literati.  Of 
course  it  is  neither  desirable  nor  necessary  that  the  many 
noticeable  allusions  to  ale,  which  occur  throughout  the 
writings  in  the  English  tongue,  should  be  referred  to, 
much  less  quoted ;  but  it  will  be  in  generous  accord 
with  the  subject — being  as  it  were  the  creamy  foam 
beads  on  the  brown  or  amber  beverage — to  draw  upon 
literature  and  the  lives  of  eminent  people  for  some 


*See  also,  on  the  uses  of  beer  for  working  men,  and  women  in  deli 
cate  health,  the  various  works  of  Buchan,  Paris,  Beach,  Cullen,  Wil 
liams,  &c. 


illustration  of    that   which   so  happily    inspired   them   on 
various  occasions. 

The  best  thing  in  one  of  the-  very  oldest  dramatic 
pieces  is  a  song  in  praise  of  ale.  In  that  "  Ryjht 
jPythy,  Pleasant  and  Aferie  Comedie,  In  ty  tided  Gammer 
Gurton's  Needle,  played  on  the  Stage  not  longe  ago*  in 
Ghrisle's  Colled'je,  in  Cambridge,  and  written  by  John 
Still,  a  name  suggestive  of  drink-making  (afterwards 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells),  we  have  the  following  ex 
cellent  convivial  song,  extolling  jolly  good  ale: 

"I  cannot  eat  but  little  meat, 

My  stomach  is   not   good ; 
But  sure   I   think  that  I   can  drink 

"With  him   that  wears  a  hood; 
Though  I   go  bare,   take  ye  no   care, 

I    nothing  am   a-cold; 
I   stuff  my  skin   so  full   within 
Of  jolly  good  ale  and  old. 

Back  and  side  go  bare,  go  bare; 

Both  foot  and  hand  go  cold; 
But,  belly,  God  send  thee  good  ale  enough, 
Whether  it  be  new  or  old. 

"I  love  no  roast  but  a  nut  brown  toast, 

And  a  crab  laid  in  the  fire; 
And  little  bread  shall  do  my  stead; 

Much  bread  I  nought  desire. 
No  frost,  no  snow,   no  wind,  I  trow, 

Can  hurt  me  if  I  wold, 
I  am  so  wrapp'd,  and  thoroughly  lapp'd 
Of  jolly  good  ale  and  old. 
Back  and  side,  Ac. 

"And  Tib,  my  wife,  that  as  her  life 
Loveth  well  good  ale  to  seek, 


About  15G5. 


64 

Full  oft  drinks  she,  till  ye  may  see 

The  tears  run  down  her  cheek ; 
Then  doth  she  troul  to  me  the   bowl, 

Even  as  a  malt-worm  should, 
And  saith,   '  Sweet  heart  I  took  my  part 

Of  this  jolly  good  ale  and  old,' 
Back  and  side,   &c. 

"Now  let  them  drink  till  they  nod   and  wink, 

Even  as  good  fellows  should  do; 
They  shah1  not  miss  to  have  the  bliss 

Good  ale  doth  bring  men  to. 
And  all  poor  souls  that  have  scour'd  bowls, 

Or  have  them  lustily  troul'd, 
God  save  the  lives  of  them  and  their  wives, 
Whether  they  be  young  or  old. 
Back  and  side,  &c." 

In  connection  with  the  subject,  it  is  certainly  interest 
ing  to  know  that  Shakespere's  father  was  one  of  the 
ale-tasters  of  Stratford-upon-Avon  about  the  same  time 
that  he  was  a  member  of  the  corporation  of  that 
borough.*  The  stage  furnishes  many  glimpses  charac 
teristic  not  only  of  the  uses  of  ale  but  of  the  peculiar 
qualities  and  special  local  brewings  of  it.  The  famous 
scene  between  old  Will  Boniface  and  Aimwell,  in  Far- 
quhar's  Beaux  Stratagem,  for  instance,  which  is  one  of 
the  heartiest  passages  in  the  whole  range  of  comedy, 
and  in  which  the  jolly  host,  who  was  as  particular  in 
the  age  of  his  ale  as  of  his  children,  describes  Litch- 
field  brew  "smooth  as  oil,  sweet  as  milk,  clear  as  am 
ber,  and  strong  as  brandy,"  with  the  additional  infor 
mation  that  "it  will  be  just  fourteen  years  old  the  fifth 
day  of  next  March,  old  style."  In  the  "  Recruiting 


*  J.  P.   Collier's   Life  of  Shakespere,   chap.    1. 


65 


Officer'1'1  of  the  same  dramatist  Captain  Plume  alludes  to 
the  March  beer  in  Shropshire,  and  after  indulging 
heavily  in  it  at  the  Raven,  says,  "  I  have  been  doubly 
serving  the  Queen — raising  men  and  raising  the  excise 
— recruiting  and  elections  are  rare  friends  to  the  ex 
cise,"  This  passage  not  only  indicates  a  special  brew, 
but  also  the  value  of  the  duty  to  the  government  in 
the  time  of  Queen  Anne. 

Plume's  allusion  to  elections  shows  the  indulgence  of 
the  voters  in  those  days,  at  the  candidate's  expense. 
We  have  neither  improved  nor  gone  backward  since. 
The  old  election  ballads  are  full  of  allusions  to  ale 
and  beer,  especially  during  the  troubles  of  England 
with  France,  when  foreign  wines  were  decried,  and 
the  "home  brewed"  lauded  to  the  skies.  John  Cun 
ningham,  whose  pastoral  poem,  "  Day,"  is  pleasurably 
remembered,  wrote  several  ballads  of  this  nature,  which 
are  retained  in  his  works.  A  brace  of  stanzas  from 
his  "  Newcastle  Beer "  introduces  to  us  the  qualities  of 
that  potent  brew  : 

"  'Twas  stingo   like   this  made   Alcidcs  so  bold  ; 

It  braced  up  his   nerves  and  enliven'd  his  powers ; 
And   his  mystical  club,   that  did  wonders  of  old, 
Was  nothing,   my  lads,   but  such  liquor  as  ours. 
The   horrible  crew 
That  Hercules  slew, 

.  Were  Poverty — Calumny — Trouble — and  Fear  : 
Such   a  club   would  you   borrow 
To  drive  away  sorrow, 
Apply  for  a  jorum  of  Newcastle  Beer. 


Yo   fanciful   folk!    for  whom   Physic  prescribes— 
Whom   bolus  and   potion   have   hurass'd   to   death— 

Yo   wretches!  whom   Law  and  her  ill-looking  tribes 
Have   hunted  about  till  you're  quite  out  of  breath 


': 


66 


Hero's  shelter  and   ease, 

No  craving  for  fees, 

No  danger — no   doctor — no  bailiff— is   near; 

Your  spirits  this  raises, 

It  cures  your  diseases; 

There's  freedom   and  health  in  our  Newcastle  Beer." 

"  Morgan  Odoherty,"  who  had  experience  and 
great  taste  in  such  matters,  advises  people,  instead  of 
"dram  drinking,"  which  is  an  infamous  and  ruinous 
practice,  and  "port  drinking,"  which  is  provocative  of 
blobby  Bardolphian  noses,  to  "drink  as  much  good 
claret,  good  punch,  or  good  beer,  as  you  can  get  hold 
of,  for  these  liquors  make  a  man  an  Adonis."  Ana 
lyzing  the  effect  produced  on  the  appearance  by  these 
liquors,  he  gives  the  palm  to  claret — the  tasting  of 
which,  he  says,  creates  a  peculiar  delicacy  of  expression 
about  the  mouth.  "Beer,  though  last,"  he  adds,  "is 
not  the  least  in  its  beautifying  powers.  A  beer-drinker's 
cheek  is  like  some  of  the  finest  species  of  apples — 

'  The  side  that's  next   the  sun.' 

Such  a  cheek  carries  one  back  into  the  golden  age, 
reminding  us  of  Eve,  Helen,  Atalanta,  and  I  know  not 
what  more.  Upon  the  whole  I  should,  if  called  upon  to 
give  a  decided  opinion  as  to  these  matters,  in  the  pre 
sent  state  of  my  information  and  feeling,  say  as  fol 
lows:  'Give  me  the  cheek  of  a  beer-bibber — the  calf 
a  punch-bibber — and  the  mouth  of  a  claret-bibber.'"* 

Another  of  Odoherty's  maxims  says:  "In  travelling 
I  make  a  point  to  eat  wherever  I  can  sit  down,  and  to 
drink  ale  whenever  the  coach  stops."  He  also  makes 
a  suggestion,  the  efficiency  of  which,  I  trust,  no  reader 
of  this  will  ever  need  to  test — that  "the  most  grateful 
of  all  drinks  is 

1  Cocl   small   beer  unto   the   waking   drunkard.' " 

*  Maxims  of  Odohorty.      Miscel.  Writings    of  Dr.  Maginn.     Vol.  1 . 


67 


Milton,  the  prince  of  poets,  gives  a  happy  glimpse 
of  rustic  life  in  his  "  L' Allegro,"  when  he  pictures  the 
old  and  young,  after  the  enjoyment  of  a  sunshine  holi 
day  out-o'- doors,  betaking  themselves  indoors 

"  To  the  spicy  nut-brown   ale," 

to  tell  stories  of  the  fairy  Mab  and  her  junketings, 
and  the  pranks  of  the  goblins,  who  upset  the  milk- 
pans  and  thresh  the  corn. 

The  pipe  and  the  jug  of  ale  are  associated  in  the 
mind's  eye  with  rotund  and  easy  vicars  of  the  olden 
time,  who  thought  it  no  sin  to  lounge  under  the  yawn 
ing  porch  of  an  old  hostel,  and  talk  politics  with  mine 
host.  Bishop  Still's  song,  given  above,  is  a  famous  spe 
cimen  of  clerical  joviality ;  not  less  so,  if  not  so  old, 
is  Francis  Fawkes'  song: 

"Dear  Tom,  this  brown  jug,   that   now  foams   with  mild  ale 
(In   which  I   now  drink  to  sweet  Nan   of  the   vale), 
Was  once   Toby   Fillpot,    a  thirsty  old  soul 
As  e'er  drank  a  bottle,   or   fathom'd   a  bowl. 
In  boozing  about  'twas   his  praise   to   excel — 
Among  jolly  topers  he  bore  off  the  bell. 

"It  chanc'd  as  in   dog-days  he   sat  at  his  ease, 
In  his  flower-woven   arbor,   as  gay   as  you   please, 
With  a  friend  and  a  pipe  puffing   sorrow  away, 
And  with  honest  old  stingo   was  soaking    his  clay, 
His   breath   doors   of  life  on  a  sudden   were  shut, 
And  he  died  full  as  big  as  a  Dorchester  butt. 

"His  body,  when  long  in  the  ground  it  had  lain, 
And   Time   into  clay  had   resolved  it   again, 
A   potter  found  out,   in   its  covert  so  snug, 
And  with   part  of  fat  Toby  ho   form'd  this  brown  jug- 
Now  sacred   to  Friendship,   and   mirth,   and  mild  ale — 
So  here's  to  the  lovely  sweet  Nan  of  the   vale." 

Fawkes  was  a  clerical  poet  of  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  whose  writings  are  now  little  known,  although 


Doctor  Johnson  said  of  his  translations  from  the  classics, 
"Frank  Fawkes  has  done  them  very  well."  His  ana 
creontics  have  passed  away,  but  his  Brown  Jug*  has 
remained  sacred  to  friendship,  mild  ale  and  sweet  Nan. 
What  a  chain  of  literary  circumstances,  and  what 
an  interesting  fund  of  anecdote  is  there  not  based 
upon  and  woven  round  Sam  Johnson's  residence  under 
the  roof  of  Mr.  Thrale,  the  brewer,  famous  as  the 
husband  of  his  wife,  nee  Hester  Lynch  ;  and  after  his 
death,  the  vain,  garrulous,  keen,  brilliant  and  interest 
ing  Madame  Piozzi.  Apropos  of  ladies  illustrating  the 
ale  and  beer  history,  it  will  be  remembered  that  the 
angelic  Malibran  was  devoted  —  probably  for  the 
sake  of  her  complexion — to  a  "pot  of  half  and  half." 
Even  the  Siddons  herself  is  the  inspiration  of  a  few 
very  characteristic  anecdotes  relating  to  the  "malt." 
Her  predilection  for  a  "  pint  of  beer "  on  one  occa 
sion  produced  a  very  novel  and  ridiculous  stage  ef 
fect  :  the  boy  who  was  hurriedly  despatched  for  the 
beverage  rushed  back  to  the  theatre,  and  not  finding 
Mrs.  Siddons  in  the  green-room  or  on  the  wings,  and, 
intent  on  his  errand,  darted  on  the  stage  and  pre 
sented  the  foaming  pewter  to  the  great  actress,  then 
going  through  the  sleeping  scene  of  Lady  Macbeth. 
The  other  anecdote  presents  her  as  somewhat,  if  not 
very  stagey,  off  the  stage.  Moore  told  Shiel,  the  author 
of  Evadne,  of  an  occasion  when  a  large  party  were  in 
vited  to  meet  her.  She  remained  silent,  as  was  her 
wont,  and  disappointed  the  expectations  of  the  whole 
company,  who  watched  for  every  syllable  that  should 
escape  her  lips.  At  length,  however,  being  asked  if 


*  Which   is  also,   by-the-bye,   as  the   author  admits,  an  imitation  from 
the  Latin    of  Hieronymus  Amaltheua. 


m^ 


69 


she  would  have  some  Burton  Ale,  she  replied,  with  ;t 
sepulchral  intonation,  that  "  she  .  liked  ale  vastly."* 
Lockhart  gives  another  and  similar  anecdote.  When  the 
guest  of  Scott  Mrs.  Siddons,  in  an  eminently  tragic  voice, 
addressed  a  servant:  "I  asked  for  water,  boy — 'you've 
brought  me  beer."  Shelton  Mackenzie  having' detailed  one 
of  these  anecdotes  to  Maturin,  author  of  Bertram,  the  lat 
ter  very  aptly  said,  "  The  voice  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  like 
St.  Paul's  bell,  should  never  toll  except  for  the  death 
of  kings." 

Burns  turned  a  neat  verse  of  compliment  to  his 
friend,  Mr.  Syme,  when,  sending  a  dozen  of  porter 
from  the  Jerusalem  Tavern,  at  Dumfries,  he  wrote: 

"  Oil,   had  the   malt   thy   strength   of   mind, 

Or  hops  the   flavor  of   thy   wit, 
.  ''  'Twere   drink  for  first  of   human  kind — 

A   gift  that  e'en  for  Syme   wero   fit."  . 

Burns  also  paid  a  strong  testimony  to  the  honesty 
of  a  brewer,  in  an  epitaph  on  Gabriel  Richardson, 
father  of  Sir  John  Kichardson,  the  Arctic  traveller: 

"  Hero  brewer  Gabriel'a   fire   extinct, 

And   empty   all  his   barrels: 
He's   blost  if  as  he   brewed  ho  drink 
In  upright,   honest  morals." 

It  will  be  remembered,  as  no  mean  testimony  to  the 
healthful  and  sustaining  influence  of  the  malt,  that 
George  Crabbe,  in  the  terrible  struggle  of  his  early 
days,  wandering  about  London,  devoted  almost  his  very 
last  seven  farthings  for  a  pint  of  portec. 

A  curious  instance  of  the  observance  of  the  laws  of 
hospitality  gave  rise  to  the  Scotch  proverb:  Do  as  the 


*  Shiel'a  Sketches  of  the  Irish   Bar.     Edited   by  Dr.  R.   S.   Mackenzie. 


70 


law  of  Forfar  did — talce  a  standing  drink.  A  woman  in 
Forfar,  who  was  brewing,  set  out  her  tub  of  beer  to  cool. 
A  cow  came  by  and  drank  it  up.  A  lawsuit  followed, 
but  the  bailies  of  Forfar  acquitted  the  owner  of  the  cow, 
on  the  ground  that  the  farewell  drink,  called  Dock  an 
doris,  or  stirrup  cup,  taken  by  the  guest  standing  at 
the  door,  was  never  charged,  and  as  the  cow  had 
taken  but  a  standing  drink  outside,  it  could  not,  ac 
cording  to  Scottish  usage,  be  chargeable.* 

Instances  innumerable  might  be  given  to  exhibit  the 
intimacy  of  distinguished  people  with,  and  the  hospi 
tality  promoted  by  the  "liquid  bread," — to  show  its 
uses,  and  its  less  liability  to  abuses  than  other  drinks ; 
but  in  closing  this  brief  historical,  hygienic  and  literary 
testimonial  to  its  use  and  merits,  the  following  passage, 
from  an  English  article  on  taxation,  may  be  adopted 
as  true  of  the  wide-spread  appreciation  and  popularity 
of  the  beverage  in  the  New  as  well  as  in  the  Old 
World  : 

"  With  an  impartial  catholicity  of  palate  the  votary 
of  the  amber  ale  loves  to  see  its  'beaded  bubbles 
winking  at  the  brim,'  and  yet  is  never  forgetful  of 
the  darker  charms  possessed  by  porter  or  stout.  Boat 
ing  men — whenever  they  are  not  under  strict  training — 
cricketers,  and  the  whole  of  the  manly  English  sport 
ing  community,  are  sensible  alike  to  the  charms  of  the 
long,  thin,  narrow  glass,  the  simple  and  unassuming 
tumbler,  and  the  thorough  going  pewter  pot.  The 
prudent  and  industrious  mechanic  prefers  the  whole 
some  brew  of  native  malt  and  hops  to  the  fiery 
foreign  distillations  that  madden  the  brain  and  shatter 
the  nerves.  The  statistics  of  beer-drinking  are  simply 

*  Ramsay's   "Reminiscence  of  Scottish  Life  and   Character." 


•***« 
*i 


I*' 

T 


t! 


71 


stupendous.  Mr.  Gladstone,  after  making  all  the  de 
ductions  that  occurred  even  to  his  peculiarly  exact  and 
analytical  intellect,  computed  that  every  adult  male  in 
England  consumed  the  astounding  quantity  of  six 
hundred  quarts  per  annum.  Despite  all  the  arguments 
and  invectives  of  the  agitators  who  advocate  what  is 
paradoxically  described  as  a  'permissive  bill,'  on 
account  of  its  prohibitory  character,  we  adhere  to  our 
faith  that  sound,  honest  malt  liquor,  does  far  more  good 
than  harm  ;  nor  should  we  dream  of  opposing  any 
system  of  financial  legislation  which  would  make  it 
cheaper  without  inflicting  an  extra  burden  upon  the 
community." 

In  this  faith  we  may  echo  the  praises  of  GambrinuK 
and  the  dispraise  of  those  narrow-minded  "legislators" 
and  mistaken  "philanthropists"  who  would  curtail  or 
abolish  the  blessings  he  invented  for  man,  and  especially 
the  man  of  labor  : 

"  So,    blessings  on   the  old   Flanders  king, 

And  blessings  on   his  beer; 
And  curse   upon   the  tax  on  malt, 

That   makes  good   drink   so   dear." 

FORDHAM,    June  19th,    18G(5. 


lo|a 


ons 


55 


B  CITY  OP'  ALBANY,  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  flourishing  cities  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  as  well  as  the  oldest — for  it 
was  settled  as  early  as  1607,  by  Hollanders, 
who  built  a  fort,  called  Orange,  which  was 
visited  by  Hendrick  Hudson,  who  anchored 
his  vessel,  the  "Half  Moon,"  under  its  guns,  in  1609 

is   noted  for  its    extensive    breweries.      The    principal 

one   was  built  by  the  late  John  Taylor,   and  of  it   we 
propose  particularly   to   speak. 

The  first  brewery,  however,  as  we  learn  from  Bishop's 
"History  of  American  Manufactures,"  erected  in  Albany, 
or  rather  at  Beveryck — the  present  site  of  the  town — 
was  about  the  year  1661.  The  proprietor  was  Arendt 
Von  Curler,  a  man  who  was  held  in  high  esteem 
both  by  the  English  and  French  Governors.  Previous 
to  his  time,  however,  a  brewery  was  in  operation  at 
Rensselaerwyck  as  early  as  1635.  Eveert  Pels,  who 
settled  in  the  Colony  iu  1612,  also  erected  a  brewery 
about  that  period.  The  city  records  of  Albany  show 
tli  at,  in  1695,  Benn.  C.  Corlaer  and  Albert  Ryckman 
were  ordered  to  brow,  for  the  use  of  the  Common 
Council,  three  pipes  of  table  beer,  at  £10  13s.  The 
Aldermen  of  to-day,  we  think,  are  somewhat  more  ex 
travagant,  and  prefer  champagne. 


10 


74 


"One  of  the  most  prosperous  brewers  of  Albany," 
says  our  authority,*  "  during  the  last  century,  was 
Ilarman  Gansevoort,  who  died  in  1801,  having  acquired 
a  large  fortune  in  the  business.  His  brewery  stood  at 
the  corner  of  Maiden  Lane  and  Dean  street,  and  was 
demolished  in  1807.  He  found  large  profits  in  the 
manufacture  of  beer,  and  as  late  as  1833,  when  the 
dome  of  Stanwix  Hall  was  raised,  the  aged  Dutch 
men  of  the  city  compared  it  to  the  capacious  brew 
kettle  of  old  Harine  Gansevoort,  whose  fame  was  fresh 
in  their  memories." 

In  Munsell's  Annals  of  Albany  we  read  of  this 
brewer  that,  when  he  wished  to  give  a  special  flavor 
to  a  good  brewing,  he  would  wash  his  old  leathern 
breeches  in  it.  This  is  doubtless  one  of  the  little 
jokes,  at  the  expense  of  the  brewers,  in  which  the 
good  people  of  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago  used  to  indulge. 

Half  a  century  ago,  also,  we  learn  that  a  Mr.  Gill 
— not  a  bad  name,  by  the  way,  for  a  brewer — 
used  to  boast  that  he  actually  turned  out  one  hundred 
and  fifty  barrels  of  beer  yearly' — a  number  which, 
when  compared  with  that  produced  at  the  Taylor 
Brewery  at  this  day,  would  be  but  as  a  gill  to  a 
hogshead. 

Perhaps  no  city  in  the  State  is  better  located  for 
brewing  purposes  than.  Albany,  it  being  the  great 
central  mart  for  the  barley  and  hops  raised  in  the 
West,  and  which,  by  way  of  the  Erie  Canal,  are 
brought  to  a  market  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  they 
could  be  by  any  other  conveyance.  The  water,  too, 
which  is  used,  is  particularly  adapted,  by  its  purity 

*  A  History  of  American  Manufactures,  from  1608  to  1860,  etc.:  by 
J.  Leander  Bishop,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  in  three  volumes.  Philadelphia; 
Edward  Young  &  Co.  London:  Sampson,  Low.  Son  &  Co.,  1866. 


7.'. 


and  softness,  for  making  the  best  ales.  After  the  ale 
is  manufactured  the  facilities  for  shipping  it  to  New 
York,  Boston,  the  western  cities  and  Canada,  are  un 
rivalled,  and  consequently  it  can  be  sold  much  more 
reasonably  that  if  such  advantages  did  not  exist. 

Albany  may  well  feel  proud  of  her  enterprising 
citizens,  and  especially  of  such  men  as  was  the  late 
John  Taylor,  who,  by  the  erection  and  working  of 
his  immense  brewery  and  malt-houses,  gave  employ 
ment  to  a  large  number  of  mechanics  and  other 
laborers,  and  indirectly  added  largely  to  the  value  of 
the  agricultural  portion  of  the  State.  He  is  worthily 
succeeded  by  his  two  surviving  sons,  Joseph  B.  and 
William  II.  Taylor,  the  former  of  whom  attends  to 
the  sale  of  the  ale  in  the  cities  of  New  York  and 
Boston,  and  the  latter  to  the  manufacturing  of  it  at 
Albany. 

No  establishment  in  this  country  is  more  perfectly 
adapted  for  the  purpose  intended  than  the  brewery  of 
John  Taylor's  Sons,  at  Albany.  No  necessary  expense 
was  spared  in  its  erection.  Its  machinery  is  all  of 
the  most  approved  description,  and  every  department 
throughout  the  vast  establishment  is  conducted  with  an 
especial  view  to  producing  not  only  the  best  ale 
brewed  in  this  country,  but  also  with  a  regard  to 
rigid  cleanliness,  purity  of  materials,  and  economy  both 
of  labor  and  time. 

It  is  now  over  forty  years— in  1822— since  the  late 
senior  partner  commenced  the  business  of  brewing. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  conducted  it  on  a  com 
paratively  small  scale,  but  ever  with  an  eye  to  enlarg 
ing  it,  and  making  his  the  model  establishment  in  the 
country.  To  this  end  he  closely  studied  through 
books  the  art  and  history  of  brewing,  in  all  its  rami- 


76 


fications,  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present  day, 
and  increased  the  knowledge  thus  obtained  by  practical 
experiments.  Mr.  Taylor  has  been  called  a  self-made 
man;  and,  if  much  careful  reading,  earnest  thought, 
keen  observation  and  a  retentive  memory,  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  the  making  of  such  a  man,  he  was 
essentially  one.  He  used  to  say  that  he  never  spent 
an  hour  in  a  person's  company  without  learning  some 
thing  from  him,  and  we  doubt  not  but  that  it  was 
so.  When,  therefore,  we  consider  all  these  things, 
and  in  this  connection  remember  that  he  was  indus 
trious,  honest,  persevering  and  energetic,  and  rejected 
from  his  dictionary  such  words  as  "can't"  and  "fail," 
we  need  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  he  attained 
remarkable  success  in  business,  won  honors  in  civil  life, 
and,  dying  full  of  years,  left  a  good  name  behind 
him. 

John  Taylor  lived  long  enough,  however,  to  fulfil 
one  of  the  great  objects  of  his  life,  and  for  ten  years 
to  enjoy  his  success.  The  model  brewery,  which  it 
had  been  his  ambition  to  erect  and  successfully  sus 
tain,  was  built  by  him  in  1851  and  '52,  and  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death,  in  1863,  was  under  his  especial 
supervision.  Before,  however,  proceeding  to  describe 
this  extensive  establishment,  we  would  state  that,  in 
1860,  Mr.  Taylor,  accompanied  by  his  son  Joseph, 
visited  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  recreation — combined, 
as  we  may  truly  presume,  with  a  desire  to  inform 
himself  concerning  the  business  of  brewing  in  that 
country.  A  man  gifted,  as  he  was,  with  large  per 
ceptive  faculties,  could  not  pass  through  the  great 
breweries  of  Great  Britain  without  adding  to  his  store 
of  information,  and  learning  many  things  which  could 
be  advantageously  adapted  to  his  business.  Many  of 


these  breweries  he  examined  with  close  attention,  and 
whatever  \vas  novel,  either  in  the  machinery  or  man 
ner  of  operation,  was  carefully  studied  and  noted 
down.  In  some  instances  he  made  elaborate  drawings 
of  such  portions  of  the  works  as  he  deemed  it  de 
sirable  to  imitate,  and  often  under  circumstances  un 
favorable  to  such  labor.  After  duly  considering  and 
comparing  the  various  advantages  accruing  to  the 
breweries  from  their  mechanical  or  other  improve 
ments,  he  decided  to  select  the  Lion  Brewery,  of 
London,  with  such  additions  and  improvements  as  his 
own  observation  and  judgment  would  enable  him  to 
graft  upon  it,  as  the  model  from  which  to  erect,  on 
his  return  to  Albany,  a  brewery,  which  would  favor 
ably  compare  with  those  of  the  old  world,  and  far 
excel  any  which,  up  to  that  period,  had  been  erected 
in  this  country. 

In  May,  1851,  the  corner  stone  of  the  present 
brewery  at  Albany  was  laid,  and  during  the  following 
year  the  first  barrel  of  ale  was  turned  out  from  it  ; 
since  then  more  than  two  millions  of  barrels  have 
been  brewed.  The  building  is  located  on  the  square 
bounded  by  Broadway,  Ferry  and  Arch  Streets,  and 
the  Hudson  lliver.  It  is  six  stories  in  height,  eighty 
by  two  hundred  feet  in  dimensions,  and  the  nucleus 
about  which  other  buildings,  nearly  covering  the  two 
adjoining  blocks,  north  and  south,  and  occupied  by 
the  firm  in  their  business,  are  clustered.  The  capital 
invested  amounts  to  over  a  million  of  dollars.  The 
plot  of  ground  on  which  these  buildings  are  erected 
was  formerly  covered  by  the  waters  of  the  Iludson, 
but,  through  the  skill  and  energy  of  man,  was  re 
claimed  from  its  sovereignty.  To  secure  the  buildings 
to  be  erected  upon  this  site  a  firm  and  solid  founda- 


78 


tion,  several  hundred  spiles  were  driven  into  it,  and 
the  corner  stone,  enclosing  various  United  States  coins, 
sundry  printed  reports  and  statistics  of  Albany  and 
its  institutions,  was  placed  in  position  on  the  fifteenth 
of  May,  1851. 

To  enable  our  readers  the  better  to  understand  the 
various  uses  of  the  different  parts  of  this  vast  estab 
lishment,  as  we  shall  describe  them,  it  is  necessary 
briefly  to  state  what  articles  are  employed  in  the  ma 
king  of  ale:  these  are,  first,  barley,  which  contains  the 
saccharine  matter  and  the  alcoholic  properties  of  the 
liquor,  and  second,  hops,  to  give  it  the  requisite 
flavor,  and  also  assist  in  preserving  it.  Before  com 
mencing  the  process  of  brewing  it  is  necessary  to  con 
vert  the  barley  into  malt.  This  is  effected  in  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  days,  by  three  distinct  processes. 
The  barley  is  first  steeped  in  huge  wooden  cisterns  for 
about  forty-eight  hours,  to  macerate  ;  it  is  then  spread 
upon  the  floor,  in  beds  four  to  six  inches  in  depth, 
to  germinate.  While  undergoing  this  process,  which 
lasts  from  five  to  seven  days,  it  is  technically  termed 
couch.  At  the  end  of  the  germinating  season  the 
couch  is  removed  to  the  proper  kilns  and  thoroughly 
dried ;  by  this  last  process  it  is  converted  into  malt. 

Several  interesting  chemical  changes  take  place  during 
the  process  of  malting.  In  all  grains  is  found  a  large 
proportion  of  a  substance  termed  by  chemists  fecula, 
but  which  is  commonly  known  as  starch.  At  the 
time  when  the  grain  begins  to  germinate  there  is 
formed  a  peculiar  azolized  substance,  called  by  a  Greek 
word,  diastase,  meaning  to  separate.  This  diastase  pos 
sesses  the  somewhat  curious  property  of  converting  the 
starch  into  a  fermentable  sugar,  though  the  process  is 
not  immediate,  for  the  starch  first  becomes  a  mucila- 


79 


ginous  substance,  easily  dissolved  in  water,  termed  dex 
trine,  naturally  unfermentable,  and  requiring  the  action 
of  diastase  to  convert  it  into  starch  sugar  before  it  is 
fermentable.  Therefore,  in  the  process  of  malting,  the 
grain  is  permitted  to  germinate  until  a  large  supply 
of  diastase  is  produced,  when  the  vitality  is  destroyed 
by  subjecting  it  to  a  great  heat.  Another  important 
service  is  also  obtained  by  the  high  temperature,  which  is 
that  of  depriving  the  saccharine  starch  of  its  gelatinous 
character,  and  greatly  facilitating  the  action  of  the  hot 
water  in  the  process  of  mashing  —  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  important  in  that  of  brewing. 

The  process  of  brewing  requires  seven  distinct  pro 
cesses,  namely,  grinding  the  malt,  mashing  or  infusing 
with  hot  water,  boiling  the  wort  with  the  hops,  strain 
ing,  cooling,  fermenting  with  the  addition  of  yeast,  and 
clearing.  The  malt  is  first  ground  or  crushed  into  a 
coarse  powder,  in  a  powerful  mill  ;  it  is  then  con 
veyed  to  the  mash-tun.  This  is  a  large  circular  tub, 
with  a  double  bottom,  of  which  the  upper  one  is  false, 
being  pierced  with  numerous  holes.  Between  these 
bottoms  is  a  space  of  about  three  inches,  into  which 
the  stop-cocks  enter,  for  letting  in  the  water  and  draw 
ing  off  the  wort.  Within  the  tun  is  an  apparatus  by 
which  the  crushed  grain  and  water  are  kept  in  agita 
tion  through  a  rotary  movement.  After  the  proper 
quantity  of  malt  is  supplied,  water,  the  temperature  of 
which  is  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  degrees,  is  let 
into  the  space  between  the  two  bottoms,  and  passing 
through  the  small  holes  in  the  upper  one,  mixes  with 
the  malt.  After  it  is  agitated  so  as  to  completely  dis 
solve  the  sugar,  and  allow  the  diastase  to  react  upon 
the  starch,  the  whole  is  allowed  to  stand  covered  for 
about  two  hours,  when  the  clear  infusion  of  sweet  wort, 


80 

as  it  is  now  called,  is  drawn  off  into  a  vessel  desig' 
nated  the  underbade,  placed  on  a  lower  level  than  the 
mash-tub,  and  where  the  master  brewer,  aided  by  a 
hydrometer,  regulates  its  strength  to  the  proper  quality- 
The  wort,  properly  graduated,  is  then  pumped  into 
the  copper,  for  boiling.  This  is  a  close  vessel,  with  a 
loaded  valve  at  the  top,  to  allow  the  steam,  at  about 
two  hundred  and  fifteen  degrees,  to  escape. 

As  soon  as  the  wort  is  introduced  into  the  copper, 
with  a  proper  proportion  of  hops,  the  two  are  boiled 
together  until  the  mixture  becomes  clear  —  a  process 
which  generally  requires  about  three  hours  to  perfect. 
To  prevent  the  hops  from  settling  at  the  bottom  and 
burning,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  them  well  agitated ; 
for  this  purpose  a  vertical  rod  passes  into  the  copper, 
through  a  stuffing-box  at  the  top,  which  rod  termi 
nates  in  a  horizontal  bar,  carrying  an  extended  chain, 
called  a  rouser,  and  both  are  kept  in  motion  by  being 
connected  with  the  moving  machinery  of  the  brewery. 
The  quantity  of  hops  used  varies  with  the  quality  of 
the  beer,  the  season,  the  time  of  keeping,  temperature, 
climate,  etc. 

After  the  boiling  is  completed  the  contents  of  the 
coppers  are  let  down  into  the  hop-back.  This  is  a 
cistern,  with  a  metal  bottom,  full  of  small  holes,  which 
acts  as  a  strainer,  and  separates  the  refuse  hops  from 
the  wort. .  Then  the  liquor  is  rapidly  pumped  from 
the  hop-back  into  the  coolers  —  large,  shallow  vessels, 
covering  the  whole  of  one  of  the  upper  floors  of  the 
brewery.  In  this  story,  instead  of  window-glass,  large 
blinds  are  used  in  the  openings,  for  light  and  air, 
thereby  preserving  a  free  circulation  of  air,  no  matter 
from  which  quarter  of  the  compass  the  wind  blows. 
The  beer  is  let  into  the  coolers  to  the  depth  of  about 


81 


two  inches.  To  prevent  acidification  or  foxing,  the 
cooling  must  be  effected  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  for 
this  purpose  large  horizontal  fans,  moving  swiftly 
around,  are  employed  to  create  a  draught  over  the 
surface  of  the  liquid.  At  other  times  the  worts  are 
passed  through  refrigerators  and  cooled  with  ice  and 
by  other  artificial  means. 

The  worts,  on  being  cooled  to  about  sixty  degrees, 
are  discharged  into  the  gyle,  or  fermenting  tuns.  These 
are  large,  circular  vats  or  tubs,  bound  with  strong  iron 
hoops,  and  covered  in  all  their  parts,  except  that  each 
has  an  opening  through  which  the  process  of  fermen 
tation  may  be  inspected  and  the  tuns  cleaned. 
Into  these  tuns,  containing  the  worts,  the  requisite 
quantity  of  yeast  is  added,  and  the  fermentation  com 
mences,  during  which  process  a  portion  of  the  sugar 
in  the  wort  is  converted  into  alcohol.  When  the  active 
fermentation  is  over,  the  head  formed  on  the  liquor 
in  the  tun  would,'  if  left  to  ftself,  subside  ;  the  effer 
vescence  would  entirely  cease ;  the  liquor  would  be 
came  transparent;  but,  after  a  short  time,  a  new  class 
of  changes  would  take  place — the  aceteous  fermentation 
would  commence,  and  the  entire  contents  of  the  vat 
would  be  converted  into  vinegar.  To  prevent  so  de 
plorable  a  result,  and  at  the  same  time  to  retain  the 
alcohol,  the  aroma  and  bitterness  of  the  hop,  and  the 
carbonic  ^cid  in  solution,  and  to  cleanse  the  ale  of 
the  minute  particles  of  yeast  which  are  floating  through 
it,  and  render  it  thick  and  muddy,  it  is  racked  off 
into  vessels  for  cleansing  and  refining.  Much  of  the 
quality  of  the  ale  depends  upon  the  success  of  these 
operations,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  pontoons  every  de 
sirable  effect  is  attained.  The  beer  is  racked  from  the 
gyle-tuns  into  large  parachute  tubs,  situated  in  the 


11 


82 

third  story,  and  passes  from  them  into  the  pontoons, 
in  the  story  immediately  below ;  floats  are  so  arranged 
to  open  and  close  the  valves  that  the  liquor  in  the 
pontoons  is  always  at  the  same  height,  independent  of 
the  flow  of  yeast  in  the  receiving  troughs.  This  pu 
rifying  and  cleansing  is  the  final  process  of  brewing, 
and,  after  it  is  completed,  the  ale  is  pumped  from  the 
pontoons  to  the  storing  vats,  or  into  casks,  ready  for 
market.  It  is  now  tightly  bunged  down,  so  that  the 
carbonic  acid  gas,  which  is  still  generated  in  small 
quantities,  may  be  retained  in  the  beverage,  and  im 
part  to  it  that  sparkle,  sharpness  and  foaming  head 
which  are  so  greatly  desired. 

Having  thus  briefly  sketched  the  process  of  brewing 
through  its  different  stages,  from  the  bringing  of  the 
barley  into  the  malt-house  until  the  ale  itself  is  pre 
pared  and  ready  for  market,  we  will  now  proceed  to 
describe  the  buildings,  with  their  various  appurtenances, 
in  which  these  celebrateU  ales  are  manufactured,  and 
which,  wherever  lovers  of  ale  are  found  throughout 
the  land,  have  a  reputation  unsurpassed  by  any  other 
brevvage. 

The  accompanying  sectional  view  of  the  brewery  will 
convey  a  good  idea  to  the  reader  of  its  internal 
arrangement. 

GRANARIES      AND      MALT      HOUSES. 

On  the  river  front,  connected  with  the  main  build 
ing,  is  a  fire  proof  brick  building,  seven  stories  high, 
and  seventy  by  forty  feet  in  dimensions,  which  is 
used  in  storing  '  the  grain  from  which  the  malt  is 
made.  The  majority  of  brewers  throughout  the 
country  purchase  their  supplies  of  malt  from  those  Jj 

who    manufacture  it,   as  it  requires  a  large    capital    to 


83 


carry  on  both  the  malting  and  brewing  business.  Mr. 
Taylor,  Senior,  early  saw  the  advantage  to  be  gained, 
however,  by  combining  the  two  branches,  which 
would  enable  him  to  select  the  finest  barley  in  the 
market,  and  personally  superintend  its  malting.  He 
would  be  certain  then  of  obtaining  the  best  quality 
of  malt,  and,  as  a  consequence,  his  ale  would  be 
proportionately  excellent.  Fully  realizing  the  benefits 
which  would  accrue  from  such  a  combination  of  forces, 
he  erected  not  only  the  above  mentioned  store  house, 
which  will  hold  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bushels 
of  grain,  and  whose  elevators  are  capable  of  conveying 
the  same  from  boats  lying  at  the  wharf  in  front  of  the 
building  to  the  bins  on  the  top  floor  of  the  brewery,  at 
the  rate  of  one  thousand  bushels  per  hour,  but  also 
three  large  malt  houses,  respectively  two  hundred  and 
twenty,  two  hundred  and  ten,  and  one  hundred  and 
ninety  feet  in  length,  by  sixty  feet  in  width,  and 
from  three  to  five  stories  in  height.  Two  of  these 
malt  houses  have  double,  and  the  other  treble  floors, 
and  the  three  together  have  the  capacity  to  malt  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bushels  of  barley  per 
annum. 

ENGINE      AND      MASH      ROOM. 

In  so  vast  an  establishment  as  this,  only  steam 
could  be  successfully  used  as  the  motive  power; 
hence  we  find  in  the  engine  room  two  double  geared 
steam  engines,  of  fifty  horse  power,  constantly  at  work, 
running  seven  hundred  feet  of  shafting,  ramifying 
throughout  the  building,  and  successfully  employed  in 
pumping,  hoisting  and  grinding— in  driving  various 
sets  of  machinery,  elevators  and  conveyers,  and,  in 
short,  doing  the  greater  part  of  the  work  which  in 


84 


other  establishments  is  generally  performed  by  hand 
labor.  Everything  connected  with  these  engines  moves 
under  the  supervision  of  an  efficient  engineer,  with 
the  regularity  of  clock  work,  and  the  polished  steel, 
the  glistening  brasses,  and  general  neatness  displayed, 
are  evidences  of  the  care  bestowed  upon  them.  In 
the  same  room,  but  divided  from  the  engine  works 
by  an  iron  railing,  are  the  mash  tubs  —  enormous 

wooden    cisterns,    reaching    from     floor    to    ceiling in 

which  can  daily  be  infused  fifteen  hundred  bushels  of 
malt.  Each  tub  has  a  double  bottom,  the  upper 
being  a  false  one,  pierced  with  numerous  holes.  The 
malt  being  ground  or  crushed,  is  first  placed  in  the 
tub,  and  water  heated  to  the  proper  degree  is  let  in 
between  the  two  bottoms,  and  gradually  works  its 
way  through  the  entire  mass  of  crushed  malt. 

THE     FERMENTING     TUNS. 

There  are  four  of  these  immense  circular  vats,  each 
of  a  thousand  barrels  capacity,  bound  with  strong  iron 
hoops,  and  closed  tightly  from  the  air,  though  each 
has  a  door  which  may  be  opened  to  inspect  the  progress 
of  fermentation  ;  but  woe  betide  the  unlucky  wight  who 
carelessly  Jputs  his  head  into  the  opening  while  the 
process  of  fermentation  is  going  on,  for  the  carbonic 
acid  gas  which  rises  from  it  is  of  the  most  potent 
searching  quality,  and  if  inhaled  into  the  lungs  will 
deprive  him  of  consciousness.  From  these  vats  the 
liquor  passes  into  large  parachute  tubs  in  the  story 
below,  thence  into  the  pontoons  on  the  next  floor,  and 
from  these,  thoroughly  cleansed  from  all  impurities,  is 
pumped  into  the  storing  vats,  or  into  casks,  ready  for 
market. 


THE     PUMP. 
THE     BREWING     COPPERS     AND     PUMP. 

There  are  two  brewing  coppers  for  boiling  down  the 
wort  and  hops;  the  larger  one  holds  one  thousand  and 
the  smaller  six  hundred  barrels.  By  the  aid  of  a  three- 
throw  gun  metal  pump  the  wort  is  discharged  from 
the  coppers  to  the  coolers,  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred 
barrels  per  hour.  This  pump,  which  is  one  of  the 
finest  pieces  of  workmanship  of  the  kind  in  the  country, 
was  constructed  from  drawings  made  by  Mr.  Taylor, 
Sen.,  and  is  of  admirable  design  and  finish. 


86 


THE     WATER     TANK. 

In  the  sixth  story  of  the  building  a  wrought-iron 
water  tank,  of  one  thousand  barrels  capacity,  is  situa 
ted.  By  aid  of  one  of  Holly's  patent  rotary  pumps, 
which  forces  the  water  from  the  river,  one  hundred 
feet  below,  this  tank  is  filled  in  two  and  a  half  hours. 
This  water  being  taken  from  below  the  surface,  is  clear, 
cold,  and  free  from  all  impurities. 

THE     PONTOON     ROOM. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  Taylor's 
Brewery  is  to  be  found  in  the  pontoon  room.  Stand 
ing  on  an  elevated  platform  at  one  end  of  the  vast 
apartment,  the  eye  of  the  spectator  passes  over  three  hun 
dred  and  sixty-five  white  cedar  vessels  or  pontoons, 
capable  of  holding  twenty -six  hundred  barrels,  placed  in 
regular  order,  and  divided  into  five  sets.  Between 
them  wooden  troughs  are  arranged,  which  carry  off  the 
yeast  as  it  purges  from  the  new-made  ale  contained  in 
them,  undergoing  the  process  of  cleansing.  From  each 
pontoon  the  creamy  yeast,  crowned  with  foam,  remind 
ing  one  of  white  capped  billows,  slowly  pours  itself  into 
the  receiving  troughs.  Heretofore  this  refining  process 
was  effected  solely  by  hand — a  slovenly  and  dirty  pro 
cess — which,  until  this  pontoon  apparatus  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Taylor,  in  his  present  brewery,  was  the  only 
one  employed  in  this  country.  Even  now  the  expense 
necessary  for  making  the  change  deters  many  breweries 
from  adopting  the  new  and  more  perfect  and  cleaner 
process. 

THE     COOLING     ROOM. 

As  one  steps  into  the  cooling  room  he  can  readily 
imagine  himself  standing  at  the  edge  of  the  Stygian 


87 


Lake,  so  dark  and  still  and  seemingly  deep  is  the 
liquid  before  him.  Not  one,  however,  but  a  dozen  lakes 
meet  his  gaze,  and  he  wonders  whether  a  dozen  Cha 
ron  s  will  not  come  forward  to  ferry  him  across  to  the 
other  side.  These  coolers  contain  the  liquor,  which, 
after  having  been  boiled  in  the  coppers,  is  let  down  into 
the  hop-back,  and  from  thence  pumped  rapidly  into 
these  vessels  to  cool.  The  coolers  are  large  though 
shallow,  and  capable  of  containing  five  hundred  barrels 
of  ale.  They  cover  the  whole  of  one  of  the  upper  floors 
of  the  brewery.  This  apartment  is  surrounded,  not 
by  windows  of  glass,  but  by  large  blinds  formed  of 
wooden  slats,  which,  when  turned,  allow  a  free  circula 
tion  of  light  and  air.  The  liquor  in  the  coolers  is  about 
two  inches  in  depth,  and  as  ft  must  be  rapidly  cooled 
to  prevent  "foxing,"  large  horizontal  fans  are  kept,  by 
the  aid  of  machinery,  moving  rapidly  around,  to  create 
a  powerful  draught  over  the  surface. 

THE     RACKING     CELLAR. 

In  addition  to  the  above  described  rooms,  containing 
two  storing  vats  of  six  hundred  barrels  capacity  each, 
is  the  racking  cellar  and  the  racking  tub,  which  holds 
one  thousand  barrels,  and  from  which  the  casks  are, 
by  the  aid  of  pipes  and  hose,  filled  with  the  new- 
made  ale,  and  then  tightly  bunged,  to  prevent  the 
carbonic  acid,  which  is  still  generated  in  small  quanti 
ties,  and  imparts  to  the  liquor  that  pleasant  sharpness 
and  sparkling  head  of  foam,  without  which  it  would 
be  flat  and  stale,  from  escaping.  In  this  cellar,  too, 
ten  thousand  casks  can  be  stored  while  awaiting  shipment. 

THE  COOPERING  DEPARTMENT. 

On  Broadway,  between  Ferry  street  and  the  main 
building,  is  a  two-story  edifice,  two  hundred  by  fifty 


feet,  the  rear  portion  of  which  is  chiefly  used  for  cooper 
ing,  cleansing  and  steaming  casks  and  barrels.  The  ap 
paratus  for  steaming,  which  was  imported  from  Europe, 
is  one  of  the  most  perfect  and  effective  works  of  the 
kind  in  this  country.  The  steam  is  driven  through 
the  staves  of  the  barrels,  placed  in  order  to  receive 
it,  in  an  incredible  short  space  of  time,  thoroughly 
cleansing  them  from  all  mould  or  other  impurities. 

THE     COUNTING     HOUSE. 

The  lower  story  of  the  front  building  is  occupied 
by  the  Counting  House  and  private  offices  of  the  firm. 
These  are  fitted  up  in  a "  plain,  substantial  manner, 
and  are  -well  adapted  to  their  several  uses. 

ADDITIONAL   MACHINERY,     ETC. 

In  addition  to  the  various  mechanical  apparatus  and 
appliances  employed  in  the  brewing  of  Taylor's  ale, 
there  are  also  two  mills  for  crushing  malt,  a  wort- 
back,  a  hop -back,  a  spent  hop-bin,  an  ashery,  a  ma 
chine-room,  with  turning  lathes,  circular  saws  and 
planing  machine,  iron  forges,  malt  screens,  thirteen 
drying  kilns,  and  over  two  miles  of  pipe,  leaders  and 
hosing. 

FACILITIES  FOR  CLEANSING  PURPOSES,  ETC. 
Although  the  finest  qualities  of  hops  and  malt  may 
be  used  in  brewing  ale,  'yet,  unless  the  vessels  em 
ployed  in  its  manufacture  be  perfectly  clean  and  pure, 
the  ale  made  cannot  be  of  the  best  kind.  The  least 
acid,  must  or  mould,  in  any  of  the  apparatus  used, 
would  give  the  ale  which  might  come  in  contact  with 
it  at1  least  an  unpleasant  flavor,  and  in  some  cases 
utterly  spoil  it  for  the  market.  Cleanliness  in  the 


89 


manufacture  of  ale  was  always  regarded  by  Mr.  Tavlor 
as  of  preeminent  importance,  and  therefore  it  is 
that  in  his  brewery  not  a  pipe,  tun,  cask  or  vessel 
of  any  kind  employed,  but  that  is  regularly  purified 
with  hot  or  cold  water  every  time  it  is  used.  To 
this  care  we  may  ascribe  the  superiority  of  the  Taylor 
ale  to  that  of  all  others. 


THE    CLOCK. 

On  the  Broadway  front  of  the  brewery  is  a  tower, 
the  top  of  which  is  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  above 
the  street,  and  from  which  an  extensive  view  of  the 
city  and  surrounding  country  can  be  obtained.  In 
this  tower  is  an  expensive  clock,  with  glass  dials  six 
feet  in  diameter.  At  the  time  of  the  Crystal  Palace 
Fair  in  New  York  it  occupied  a  prominent  place  in 
the  main  aisle,  and  its  makers  were  awarded  the 
highest  premium  for  its  superiority  to  other  clocks 
exhibited.  The  bell,  too,  is  a  very  fine  one,  and 
is  mug  regularly  at  the  hours  for  commencing  and 
quitting  work. 


DEPOTS   OF   NEW   YORK   AND   BOSTON. 

Since  the  death  of  Mr.  Taylor,  Sr.,  the  name  of 
the  firm  has  been  changed  to  JOHN  TAYLOR'S  SONS, 
the  two  surviving  sons,  Joseph  B.  and  William  H. 
Taylor  being  the  representatives.  Since  the  death  of 
Edmund  B.,  a  brother,  the  Boston  depot,  at  117  Com 
mercial  street,  as  well  as  the  New  York  depot,  corner 
of  Jay  and  Greenwich  streets,  have  been  under  the 
charge  of  Joseph,  who,  however,  makes  his  permanent 
residence  in  the  latter  city,  while  William  has  charge 
of  the  Brewery. 


-:•  - 


90 


THE     NEW     YORK     DEPOT, 
Corner   of  Greenwich,   Jay  and  Washington  streets. 

A  brief  description  of  the  New  York  Depot,  for  the 
storage  and  sale  of  Taylors'  ales,  may  not  be  uninte 
resting,  as  the  reader,  after  perusing  the  following  ac 
count,  will  acknowledge : 

The  growing  demand  for,  and  the  increasing  celebrity 
of  Taylors'  ale,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  even  as  far 
back  as  18.22,  rendered  the  establishment  of  an  agency 
in  the  great  metropolis  an  imperative  necessity ;  hence, 
during  the  said  year,  the  first  depot  was  opened  at  No. 
113  Warren  street,  where,  for  a  long  time  thereafter,  the 
business  was  successfully  transacted.  At  length,  however, 
the  trade  increased  to  such  ,  an  extent  that  the  firm 
was  forced  to  secure  other  accommodations,  which  it 
did  by  erecting  and  occupying  a  new  storehouse  and 
ofiices  at  No.  356  Greenwich  street.  This  edifice  was 
large  and  commodious,  possessing  all  of  the  modern 
improvements,  and  was,  at  the  time,  supposed  to  be 
ample  enough  for  all  emergencies. 

At  this  period  Mr.  Taylor's  son,  John-  Richmond,  was 
acting  as  agent  in  New  York,  of  which  department  he 
took  charge  in  September,  1841,  occupying  that  posi 
tion  until  1844,  when,  with  his  brother  Joseph  B.,  he 
was  admitted  to  a  partnership  in  the  house,  under  the 
firm  of  John  Taylor  &  Sons.  John  Richmond  died 
in  1853. 

Time,  however,  rolled  along,  and  the  prosperity  of 
the  concern  increased  with  each  succeeding  year,  until 
again  it  became  apparent  that  the  accommodations  were 
inadequate  to  the  immense  and  increased  business,  and 
the  firm  was  once  more  compelled  to  extend  its  facili 
ties. 


A 


The  members  of  the  firm  of  John  Taylor  &  Sons 
now  resolved  to  erect  a  building  which,  as  regarded 
size,  beauty,  strength  and  adaptability,  would  surpass 
all  their  previous  establishments,  and  place  them  in 
possession  of  one  of  the  finest  depots  in  the  laud, 
constructed  upon  scientific  principles,  and  contain 
ing  vaults  for  the  storage  of  ale  unexcelled  in  this  or 
any  other  country.  Accordingly  the  services  of  an 
able  architect  were  secured,  the  design  made  and  ac 
cepted,  and  the  work  so  far  advanced  that  on  the  first 
day  of  June,  1862,  the  corner  stone  was  laid  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  persons. 

In  passing,  it  may  be  worthy  of  note  to  recall  for  a 
moment  the  particulars  of  this  event.  On  this  occasion 
the  senior  of  the  firm,  John  Taylor,  and  the  three  part 
ners,  his  sons,  Joseph  B.,  Edmund  B.  and  Wil 
liam  H.,  took  part  with  appropriate  ceremonies;  the 
father  initiating  the  proceedings  with  a  brief  though 
truthful  account  of  the  manufacture  of  the  Taylor  ale, 
from  its  earliest  introduction  to  the  public,  and  each  of 
the  sons  following  him  with  apposite  and  suggestive 
remarks.  These  proceedings  took  place  after  the  leaden 
box,  containing  much  of  interest  to  posterity,  had  been 
deposited  under  the  corner  stone,  which  was  laid  by 
the  several  members  of  the  firm,  who  each  assisted  in 
spreading  the  cement,  and  severally  tapped  the  stone 
three  times  with  the  setting  trowel,  when  the  cere 
monies  were  ended.  The  assembly  then,  by  invitation, 
adjourned  to  the  depot,  to  partake  of  the  hospitality 
offered  them,  and  in  which  the  builders,  architect  and 
invited  guests  participated,  with  a  degree  of  satisfac 
tion  seldom  witnessed. 

The  architect  of  this  structure  was  Walter  Dickson, 
of  Albany,  N.  Y.  ;  the  builders  were  Wm.  C.  Miller, 


92 


carpenter  and  joiner,  and  Frank  Eidlitz,  mason;  to 
each  of  whom,  and  their  assistants,  great  credit  is  due 
for  the  excellence  exhibited  by  them  in  their  mecha 
nical  skill  and  truthful  execution  of  the  design  of  the 
architect. 

This  building  is  located  on  the  north  side  of  Jay 
street,  and  extends  from  Greenwich  to  Washington 
streets.  It  occupies  the  site  of  the  once  palatial  resi 
dence  of  the  late  Philip  R.  Paulding,  formerly  Mayor 
of  the  city,  and  is  looked  upon  and  copied  as  a  model 
of  elegant  simplicity  and  appropriateness.  It  is  six 
stories  in  height,  including  a  cellar.  It  is  built  in  the 
most  substantial  manner  of  iron,  Nova  Scotia  freestone, 
and  Philadelphia  pressed  brick.  It  contains  no  interior 
columns,  but  is  sustained  by  iron  beams  and  rafters. 
There  are  two  steam  hoisting  machines,  working  upon 
an  improved  principle,  which  perform  all  the  necessary 
hoisting  in  the  establishment.  The  building  is  heated 
by  steam,  the  pipes  conveying  which  extend  through 
the  entire  edifice.  While  the  building  is  in  every  par 
ticular  of  a  faultless  character,  the  attention  of  all  who 
examine  it  is  directed  to  the  superiority,  over  all  others 
in  this  country,  of  the  ale  vaults  and  cellars  which  un 
derlie  it.  The  walls,  floors  and  ceiling  of  these  immense 
vaults  are  composed  entirely  of  granite  and  iron.  The 
stones  forming  the  roof  are  the  sidewalks  of  the  street 
above,  and  each  one  is  sixteen  by  twenty  feet  square, 
and  one  foot  in  thickness,  of  Quincy  granite,  and 
weighing  not  less  than  twenty  tons  apiece.  They  are 
supported  by  iron  girders,  and  the  walk,  as  regards  the 
size  of  the  stone  and  construction,  is  probably  the  finest 
in  this  country. 

The   machinery    in   the   cellars,  for  hoisting,  removing 
and   piling   the   thousands   of  barrels  from  time  to  time 


98 


stored  in  them,  is  of  the  most  perfect  description. 
The  ventilation  is  thorough  and  complete,  and  the 
barometer  is  kept  at  an  unvarying  temperature,  based 
on  scientific  principles,  and  adapted  to  the  necessary 
requirements  of  the  famous  ale.  The  even  tempera 
ture  to  which  Taylors'  ales  are  subjected  is  one  reason 
why  they  are  superior  to  those  of  many  manufacturers, 
and  which  have  given  them  such  a  world  famous  re 
putation. 

As  fast  as  the  empty  casks  accumulate  they  are 
shipped,  by  barges  belonging  to  the  firm,  to  their  manu 
factory  at  Albany,  where  they  are  examined,  repaired, 
steamed,  cleansed,  refilled,  and  reshipped  to  New  York, 
and  again  stored  in  the  vaults,  from  whence  they  once 
more  find  their  way  to  the  remotest,  as  well  as  the 
intervening  portions  of  our  commercial  country. 

It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  both  Boston  and 
Albany  are,  also,  great  depots  for  Taylors'  ales,  from 
which  places  thousands  of  barrels  are  yearly  distributed 
far  and  wide. 

THE      BOSTON      DEPOT. 

The  establishment  in  Boston  was  founded  in  1851, 
and,  after  many  changes  similar  to  the  one  under 
gone  in  New  York,  was  located  permanently  in  the  six 
story  granite  block,  corner  of  Commercial  and  Richmond 
streets.  The  Boston  depot  supplies  the  entire  eastern, 
the  New  York  one  the  southern,  and  the  Albany  one 
the  western  markets.  With  the  facilities  at  their  com 
mand  for  supplying  these  three  portions  of  the  Union, 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Taylors'  brewage 
has  obtained  a  reputation  superior  to  any  in  the  coun- 
try :  and,  wherever  good  ales  are  drunk,  there  you  may 
be  certain  to  find  those  of  Taylor's  Sons.  In  short, 


94 


the  house  is  the  great  Brewery  of  the  land,  and  its 
members  proverbial  for  their  well  known  liberality, 
honesty,  business  "ability  and  independence  of  character. 

THE      LIBKAKY. 

Above  the  counting  house  is  the  library,  a  fire-proof 
apartment,  fifty  feet  square,  containing  over  ten  thou 
sand  volumes,  the  larger  part  of  which  are  rare  and 
valuable  works,  collected  through  many  years,  and  at 
great  expense,  by  the  late  head  of  the  firm.  They  com 
prise  works  on  scientific  subjects,  practical  sciences  and 
fine  arts,  history,  biography,  travel,  poetry  and  general 
literature.  Among  them  are  the  Musee  Frangais,  Ho 
garth's  works  (folio  edition),  complete  sets  of  the  English 
quarterlies,  and  other  choice  productions.  Not  a  few  of 
the  highly  prized  works  in  this  collection  were  purchased 
by  Mr.  Taylor  at  the  sale  of  the  library  of  De  Witt  Clin 
ton.  In  this  apartment,  devoted  to  intellectual  treasures, 
within  sound  of  the  whir  of  machinery,  and  at  times 
"  fragrant  of  hops  and  malt  new  made,"  as  our  poet 
has  it,  that  kind,  genial  old  man,  John  Taylor,  used 
to  pass  many  of  his  leisure  hours,  carefully  storing 
his  mind  with  useful  knowledge,  and  making  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  literature  of  the  past 
and  the  present.  The  picture  which  presents  itself  to 
our  mind  of  that  good  old  man,  seated,  in  his  decli 
ning  years,  amidst  his  treasured  volumes,  striving — and 
not  in  vain  —  to  improve  his  mind  by  a  course  of 
study,  such  as  in  his  earlier  years  was  denied  him, 
but  which,  as  winter  after  winter  went  byT  whitening 
his  head,  and  bringing  wrinkles  upon  his  brow,  he 
more  and  more  saw  the  need  and  benefit  of,  is  a  most 
rare  and  beautiful  one,  and,  as  an  example  to  the 
rising  generation,  is  worthy  of  being  closely  followed. 


Knowledge,  Mr.  Taylor  found,  was  power,  and  he  re 
solved  to  obtain  it.  That  he  succeeded,  those  who  can 
recall  his  success  in  life — in  his  business  connections 
and  in  his  exercise  of  civil  rights  —  will  freely  ac 
knowledge. 

The  history  of  the  establishment  and  successful  ope 
ration  of  so  large  and  fine  a  Brewery  as  we  have 
Ijerein  described,  produced,  too,  under  the  auspices  of  a 
single  individual,  and  owing  its  reputation  almost 
solely  to  his  energy,  perseverance  and  untiring  indus 
try,  cannot  be  considered  complete,  if  the  writer  should 
fail  to  give,  in  a  brief  summary,  the  sketch  of  his  life, 
and  allude  to  the  testimonials  of  respect  which  the  sad 
occasion  of  his  death  called  forth.  A  writer  in  the 
Home  Journal,  who  knew  him  well,  writes  this  touching 
tribute  to  his  memory : 

JOHN      TAYLOR,      O  F      A  L  B  A  N  Y  . 

"  Iii  the  death  of  this  '  good  man  '  society  mourns 
the  loss  of  one  of  its  most  honored  members.  At  the 
ripe  age  of  seventy-four  years,  after  a  life  full  of  event 
ful  interest,  rich  in  acts  of  benevolent  usefulness,  highly 
cherished  in  public  esteem,  full  of  honors  and  civic 
trust,  on  Saturday,  August  the  fifteenth,  JOHN  TAYLOR 
passed  away  from  our  midst,  his  life's  record  being  only 
of  good  deeds,  which  keep  alive  his  memory  and  freshen 
the  recollection  of  his  numerous  virtues  and  spotless 
traits  of  character.  Born  in  the  County  of  Durham, 
England,  in  1790,  in  the  first  year  of  his  infancy  his 
parents  emigrated  to  this  country,  and  for  a  few  years 
took  up  their  abode  in  Brooklyn,  when,  in  1793,  they 
moved  to  Albany,  New  York,  where  he  was  reared 
and  educated.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  begun  bu- 


96 


siness  as  a  tallow  chandler,  which  he  prosecuted  for 
six  years,  during  the  time  meeting  with  reverses  and 
discouragements  by  four  different  conflagrations.  Ral 
lying,  however,  with  that  energy  which  subsequently 
became  so  well  known  as  one  of  his  chief  characteris 
tics,  he  overcame  misfortunes  which  would  have  over, 
whelmed  any  ordinary  man,  and,  several  years  after 
the  war  of  1812,  embarked  in  the  business  of  brew 
ing,  in  which  he  successfully  laid  the  foundation  of 
that  establishment  which,  for  more  than  forty  years, 
bore  his  name — lately  in  connection  with  his  sons — 
and  which  has  been  distinguished  as  one  of  the  largest, 
most  prosperous  and  reputable  houses  in  the  mercan 
tile  community.  Several  times  elected  to  the  office  of 
Mayor  of  the  City  of  Albany,  he  was  instrumental  in 
effecting  many  marked  improvements  to  the  city,  and 
of  discharging  the  duties  of  the  office  to  the  complete 
satisfaction  of  the  entire  public,  irrespective  of  all  po 
litical  parties,  and  of  being  known  as  one  of  the  most 
incorruptible  magistrates  who  had  ever  presided  over 
the  councils  of  that  ancient  Knickerbocker  city.  He 
was  also  elected  presiding  officer  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
of  the  Water  Commissioners,  and  of  the  St.  George's 
Society,  and  was  the  senior  warden  of  the  vestry  of 
St.  Peter's  Church  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Few 
men  die  more  beloved  and  respected,  or  who  are 
more  worthy  of  it  than  he.  He  was  a  man  who 
thought  humbly  of  himself  and  charitably  of  others. 
He  was  benevolent  to  a  fault,  and  was  never  known 
to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  slightest  charitable  appeal. 
Kind  in  his  feelings  and  expressions,  with  tastes  of  the 
most  primitive  simplicity,  he  was  a  rare  instance  of  a 
truly  meritorious  man  who  shunned  observation  and 
avoided  display.  With  a  highly  cultivated  mind,  his 


97 


leisure  hours  were  passed  in  his  library,  where  he  had 
secured  one  of  the  largest  and  most  valuable  collec 
tions  of  standard  literature  to  be  found  in  the  city. 
Full  of  years,  in  the  sunset  of  life  he  was  gathered 
to  his  fathers,  bequeathing  to  his  children  the  price 
less  legacy  of  a  spotless  name." 

In  connection  with  the  above,  we  transcribe  the  fol 
lowing  elegiac  stanzas,  written  on  the  occasion  of  Mr. 
Taylor's  death,  which  fitly  express  the  regard  in  which 
he  was  held  for  his  noble,  honest,  and  Christianlike 
character  : 

IN     MEMORIAM. 
JOHN     TAYLOR. 

OBIIT,    AUG.    15,    MDCCCLXIII. 

JEat  LXXIV  Ans. 

"  Like   some   tall  oak,    which   many  a  year  hath   stood 
The   pride  and  monarch  of  the  leafy  wood, 
Braving  the   winter's  snow,  the  summer's  rain, 
And  casting  shade  and  shelter  o'er  the  plain  — 
Wearing   from   youth  to  age  a  royal  crown, 
Green   in   the   spring,   and   in    the   autumn   brown  — 
'Till,   centuries  passed,   at  length   it  bows   its  head, 
And   in   a  storm  falls  blasted,   powerless,   dead; 
So   he,   for   whom   we,    mourning,   sadly  sing, 
Stood   'midst   his  fellows  grandly  as  a  king; 
Noble   and    honest,    faithful,   true   and   kind, 
He  saw  their  virtues,   to  their  faults   was    blind  ; 
Gave   freely  of  the  goods  which   Heaven   bestowed, 
While  countless  blessings   from   his   bosom   flowed. 
Honors   and   riches  gathered   round   his   ways, 
And  Christian  glories  crowned   his  latter  days. 
So,   when   at  last   the   final   storm   arose, 
And,   quitting  earth,  he  passed   to   heaven's  repose, 
Of  him  'twere  truth  to  sp«ak,  though  'ueath  the  sod, 
'An   honest   man's  the   noblest   work   of  God/" 


R.  B.  C. 


FORDHAM,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  15,  1866. 


1  : 


RBTURN  TO  DE!  PROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


LOAN  DEPT 


INTERUBRApY  LOAN 


ro  o.~ 


